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ILLUSTRATED    HISTORY 


OF 


ANCIENT  LITERATURE, 


ORIENTAL  AND  CLASSICAL. 


BY 

JOHN   D.  QUACKENBOS,  A.M.,  M.D., 

AUTHOR   OF    "  ILLUSTRATED    SCHOOL    HISTORY    OF   THE   WORLD." 


ACCOMRANIED  WITH 

ENGRAVINGS  AND   COLORED  MAPS. 


NEW    YORK: 

HARPER    &    BROTHERS,    PUBLISHERS, 

FRANKLIN     SQUARE. 

i  88  i. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1878,  by 

JOHN  D.  OUACKENBOS, 
In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington, 


Stack 
Annex 

5" 

032. 


PREFACE. 


THE  History  of  Literature,  as  a  separate  branch  of  the  history  of 
civilization,  is  of  comparatively  recent  origin  ;  the  first  work  on  the 
subject  in  any  language  dating  no  farther  back  than  the  sixteenth 
century  of  our  era,  and  being  little  more  than  a  crude  catalogue  of 
authors  and  their  books.  Yet  who  can  deny  the  great  importance 
of  such  history  ?  When  studied  in  counection  with  illustrative  ex- 
tracts from  the  masterpieces  of  which  it  treats,  it  furnishes  a  key  to 
the  intellectual  development  of  our  race,  introduces  us  to  the  great 
minds  that  stand  as  beacon  lights  in  successive  ages,  and  with  their 
wisdom  widens  the  scope  of  knowledge,  while  it  refines  the  taste  and 
disciplines  the  judgment.  Lord  Bacon  said  but  the  truth,  when  he 
remarked  that  the  history  of  the  world  without  the  history  of  letters 
would  be  as  incomplete  as  a  statue  of  Polyphemus  deprived  of  his 
single  eye. 

Nor  is  this  study  without  results  of  a  direct  practical  bearing. 
Certainly  all  must  appreciate  the  importance  of  understanding  cur- 
rent allusions  to  the  writers  and  literary  works  of  other  ages  and 
countries,  and  must  admit  that  some  acquaintance  at  least  with  such 
writers  and  works  is  essential  to  a  well-grounded  knowledge  of  one's 
own  language  and  a  correct  estimate  of  its  literature.  But  when  is 
such  an  acquaintance  to  be  obtained,  if  not  during  a  school  or  college 
course  ?  The  engrossing  duties  of  after-life  leave  little  time  for  the 
pursuit  of  liberal  studies.  And  how  is  such  an  acquaintance  to  be 
obtained  ?  All  are  not  linguists,  and  the  greater  part  must  get  it 
second-hand — must  avail  themselves  of  the  labors  of  others  who  have 
delved  in  these  unfamiliar  fields.  It  may  be  stated  as  a  broad  fact 
that  few  will  know  anything  of  general  literature  who  do  not  study 
its  history  systematically,  as  a  part  of  the  academic  curriculum. 

It  is  to  facilitate  and  popularize  this  study  by  furnishing  a  com- 
plete and  carefully  condensed  text-book  on  the  subject,  unencum- 
bered by  obscure  names  and  wearisome  details,  that  the  volume  now 


1734444 


VI  PREFACE. 

offered  to  the  public  Las  been  prepared.  It  presents  a  full  account 
of  the  literatures  of  ancient  nations,  and,  treating  of  the  origin  and 
relationships  of  their  respective  languages,  incidentally  brings  for- 
ward some  of  the  most  interesting  facts  of  Comparative  Philology. 
While  the  writings  of  Greece  and  Rome  receive  due  attention,  a  new 
and,  it  is  believed,  peculiarly  valuable  feature  of  the  book  will  be 
found  in  its  treatment  of  ancient  Oriental  literature — particularly 
the  Sanscrit  and  Persian.  The  labors  of  European  scholars  during 
the  Last  quarter -century  have  thrown  a  chain  of  living  interest 
around  the  subject,  and  awakened  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  as 
well  a  thirst  for  further  knowledge,  which  it  is  here  attempted  to 
satisfy.  The  principles  of  the  Egyptian  picture-writing  (hiero- 
glyphics) are  also  explained ;  and  the  vast  literary  treasures  re- 
cently unearthed  amid  the  ruins  of  the  Nile  Valley  and  elsewhere 
are  described  and  illustrated. 

In  treating  the  subject,  the  author  has  aimed,  while  giving  a  clear 
outline  of  each  literature  as  a  whole,  to  make  its  great  writers  stand 
out  in  bold  relief,  aud  to  associate  them  in  the  pupil's  mind  with  the 
works  that  have  made  them  immortal.  With  this  view,  brief  biog- 
raphies, not  fragmentary  or  isolated,  but  grafted  on  the  narrative 
where  they  naturally  belong,  are  accompanied  with  short  specimens, 
carefully  selected  to  give  the  best  idea  of  each  author's  style  and 
genius.  In  the  critical  views  as  well  as  the  historical  facts  present- 
ed, the  latest  authorities  have  been  followed,  aud  the  aid  of  maps 
and  illustrations  has  been  freely  resorted  to  for  the  better  elucida- 
tion of  points  on  which  they  could  throw  light. 

The  present  volume  has  grown  out  of  the  author's  experience  in 
the  lecture-room ;  and  in  the  belief  that  it  is  of  a  scope  and  grade 
that  will  meet  the  popular  want,  he  now  offers  it  to  high-schools, 
academies,  and  colleges.  From  such  institutions  he  feels  that  no  class 
should  graduate  in  ignorance  either  of  the  Greek  and  Roman  classics 
which  have  inspired  the  modern  poet  and  philosopher,  or  of  those 
precious  remains  of  once  great  Oriental  literatures  that  patient  schol- 
ars of  the  nineteenth  century  have  brought  to  light — that  helped  to 
shape  the  Greek  mind  itself  in  the  morning  of  the  world.  He  trusts 
that  it  may  foster  in  the  young  admiration  of  the  brilliant  thoughts 
that  sparkle  in  the  pages  of  ancient  lore,  a,  love  of  literature,  and  a 
taste  for  philological  investigations.  If  it  be  approved  by  Ihe  friends 
of  education,  he  shall  feel  encouraged  to  continue  his  labors  in  this 
department  by  preparing  a  similar  work  on  Modern  Literature. 

COLUMBIA.  COLLEGE,  June,  1ST8. 


CONTENTS. 


INTRODUCTION. 

(Pages  11-30.) 

Definition  and  Divisions  of  Literature,  page  11.— Origin  and  Relationship  of 
Languages,  12.— The  Aryans,  13.— Aryan  Languages,  16.— Semitic  Languages, 
16.— Turanian  Languages,  17.— Written  Language,  18.— Ideographic  Writing, 
18.— Phonetic  Writing,  19.— Modes  of  Writing  and  Pointing,  20.— Ancient  Writ- 
ing Materials,  21.— General  View  of  Ancient  Literature,  25. 


PART  I. 

ANCIENT  ORIENTAL  LITERATURES. 
CHAPTER  I. — HIXDOO  LITERATURE. 

(Pages  31-CO.) 

Sanscrit  Language,  31. — Sanscrit  Alphabet,  32. — Sanscrit  Researches,  33. — The 
Veda,  34.— The  Upavedas,  35.— The  Puranas,  35.— Social  Life  of  the  Vedic  Peo- 
ple, 37.— Code  of  Manu,  38.— Epic  Poetry,  40.— The  Ramayana,  40.— The  Maha- 
bharata,  43.— Lyric  and  Didactic  Poetry,  46.— Kalidasa,  46.— Jayadeva,  48.— 
Gitagovinda,  49.— The  Sanscrit  Shakespeare,  50.— Sakoontala,  50.— The  Hindoe 
Drama,  54. — Tales  and  Fables,  56. — History  and  Grammar,  57. — Buddhist  Litera- 
ture, 58.— Writing  Materials  of  the  Hindoos,  60. 

CHAPTER  II. — PERSIAN  LITERATURE. 

(Pages  60-67.) 

Zend  Language,  60. — Zoroaster,  61.— The  Avesta,  62. — Avestan  Philosophy,  63, 
— Persian  Inscriptions,  65. — Rock  of  Behistun,  65. — The  Royal  Library,  67. 


Vlll  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  III. — CHINESE  LITERATURE. 

(Pages  67-83.) 

Chinese  Language,  67. — Chinese  Writing,  68. — Antiquity  of  Chinese  Litera- 
ture, 69 Confucius,  70.— The  Chinese  Classics,  73.— The  Four  Shoo,  77.— The 

Confucian  Analects,  77. — Mencius,  79. — Spirit  of  the  Chinese  Classics,  80. — Lao- 
Tse,  82. 

CHAPTER  IV. — HEBREW  LITERATURE. 

(Pages  83-104.) 

The  Semitic  Languages  and  their  Distribution,  84. — The  Ancient  Hebrew.  85. 
—Hebrew  Alphabet,^.— Spirit  of  Hebrew  Poetry,  88.— Parallelism,  89.— Dawn 
of  Hebrew  Literature,  90. — The  Books  of  Moses,  90. — The  Historical  Books,  92. — 
The  Book  of  Job,  93.— Golden  Age  of  Hebrew  Poetry,  93.— The  Psalms,  93.— 
Elegiac  Poetry,  94. — Didactic  Poetry,  95. — Prophetic  Poetry,  96. — Silver  Age,  97. 
—The  Apocrypha,  99.— The  Talmud,  100. 

CHAPTER  V. — CHALDEAN,  ASSYRIAN,  ARABIC,  AND  PHOENICIAN 
LITERATURES. 

(Pages  104-117.) 

Cuneiform  Letters,  104.— Assyrio-Babylonian  Writing  Materials,  106. — Golden 
Age  of  Babylonian  Literature,  107. — Deluge  Tablets,  112. — Arabic  Literature,  1 1 4. 
— Himyaritic  Inscriptions,  114. — Phoenician  Literature,  115. — Carthaginian  Rel- 
ics.  116. 

CHAPTER  VI. — EGYPTIAN  LITERATURE. 

(Pages  117-131.) 

Egyptian  Language,  117. — Hieroglyphic  Writing,  118. — The  Rosetta  Stone, 
119.— Golden  Age  of  Egyptian  Literature,  121 — The  Book  of  the  Dead,  122.— 
Hymns,  124.— Secular  Poetry,  125. — Moral  Treatises,  126. — Scientific  Literature, 
127. — Fiction  and  Satire,  128. — Synchronistic  Table  of  Oriental  Literature,  131. 


PART   II. 

GRECIAN  LITERA  TURE. 
CHAPTER  I.— BIRTH  OF  GRECIAN  LITERATURE. 

(Pages  133-138.) 

Early  Settlement  of  Greece,  133.— Pelasgi  and  Hellenes,  134.— The  Greek  Lan- 
guage, 135. — Earliest  Forms  of  Poetry,  137. — Legendary  Poets,  138. 


CONTENTS.  IX 

CHAPTER  II. — AGE  OF  EPIC  POETRY. 

(Pages  139-156.) 

Homer,  139.— The  Iliad,  141 — The  Odyssey,  147 — Minor  Poems  of  Homer, 
150. — Cyclic  Poets,  152. — Hesiod  and  his  Works,  152. — Poets  of  the  Epic  Cycle, 
156. 

CHAPTER  III. — LYRIC  POETRY. 

(Pages  157-178.) 

Rise  and  Varieties  of  Lyric  Poetry,  157. — Callinus,  159. — Tyrteeus,  1GO. — Ar- 
chilochus,  161. — ^Eolic  and  Doric  Schools,  1G3. — Alcaeus,  164. — The  Lesbian  Poet- 
esses, 164.— Sappho,  165. — Sappho's  Pupils,  171.— Anacreon,  172. — Simonides,  174. 
— Minor  Lyric  Poets,  177. 

CHAPTER  IV. — RISE  OF  GREEK  PROSE. 

(Pages  178-184.) 

Earliest  Prose  Writings,  178.— The  Seven  Sages.  179.— Solon,  179.— Thales, 
180. — -iEsop,  181. — Progress  of  Greek  Prose,  182. — Early  Philosophers  and  Histo- 
rians, 183. 

CHAPTER  V. — GOLDEN  AGE  OF  GRECIAN  LITERATURE. 

(Pages  184-262.) 

The  Attic  Period,  184.— Pindar,  185.— Antimachus,  192.— Dramatic  Poetry,  192. 
— jEschylus,  194.—"  Prometheus  Chained,"  196.— Sophocles,  200.—"  King  (Edi- 
pus,"  202.— Euripides,  207.—"  Medea,"  209.— Greek  Comedy,  212.— Aristophanes, 

213.— "The  Clouds,"  214.— "The  Birds,"  219 History,  221.— Herodotus,  222.— 

Thucydides,  225. — Xenophon,  229. — Ctesias  and  Theopompus,  233. — Philosophy, 
234.— The  Ionic  and  Italic  Schools,  234.— Pythagoras,  235.— Empedocles,  236.— 
Xenophanes,  237. —  Democritus,  237. — School  of  Epicurus,  238.  —  Pyrrho,  the 
Skeptic,  238.— The  Socratic  School,  239.— Plato  and  the  Academic  School,  241.— 
"  Phaedo,"  244. — Aristotle  and  the  Peripatetic  School,  247. — Aristotle's  Writings, 
248.— Theophrastus,  252.— The  Stoic  School,  253.— The  Cynics,  254.— Oratory, 
255.— Demosthenes,  256.— The  Speech  "  On  the  Crown,"  257.— ^Eschines,  260. 

CHAPTER  VI. — THE  ALEXANDRIAN  PERIOD. 

(Pages  262-280.) 

Decline  of  Letters,  262.— The  New  Comedy,  263.— Menander,  264.— Philemon, 
265.— Pastoral  Poetry,  266.— Theocritus,  266.— Bion  and  Moschus,  269.— The  Mu- 
seum, 272. — The  Alexandrian  Library,  273. — Poetry  at  Alexandria,  274. — Callim- 
achus,  274. — Apollonius  Rhodius,  275. — Writers  on  Science.  276. — Critics  and 
Grammarians,  277. — History,  277.— Polybius,  278. — The  Septuagint,  279. 

CHAPTER  VII. — LATER  GREEK  LITERATURE. 

(Pages  2SO-302.) 
Decay  of  Greek  Genius,  280.— Writers  of  the  First  Century  B.C.,  281.— Writers 


X  CONTENTS. 

of  the  First  Three  Christian  Centuries,  284.— Plutarch,  285.— Lucian,  288,-  Pau- 
sanias.  292. — Origen,  293. — Neo-Platonism,  293. — Longinus,  294. — Athanasius  and 
Chrysostom,  294. — Xovel- writers,  295. — Hierocles,  295.— Byzantine  Literature, 
297.— The  Greek  Anthology,  297.— Gems  of  Greek  Thought,  300. 


PART   III. 

ROMAN  LITERATURE. 
CHAPTER  I.— LATIN  AND  ITS  OLDEST  MONUMENTS. 

(Pages  303-307.) 
Italy  Peopled,  303.— The  Latin  Language,  304.— Ancient  Latin  Relics,  305. 

CHAPTER  II. — DAWN  OF  ROMAN  LITERATURE. 

(Pages  307-329.) 

Indebtedness  of  Rome  to  Greek  Authors,  307. — The  Roman  Drama,  308. — Livi- 
us  Audronicus,  309. — Cneius  Naevius,  310. — Ennius,  311. — Plautus,  312. — "The 
Captives,"  313.— Terence,  315.—"  The  Self-Tormentor,"  317.— Decline  of  the  Dra- 
ma, 319. — Epic  Poetry,  320. — Naevius  and  Ennius  as  Epic  Poets,  320. — Satiric 
Poetry,  322.— Lucilius,  323.— Early  Latin  Prose,  324.— Cato  the  Censor,  324.— 
Laslius,  Scipio,  and  the  Gracchi,  32C. — Antonius,  Crassus,  and  Hortensius,  327. — 
Minor  Historians  and  Orators,  328. 

CHAPTER  III. — GOLDEN  AGE  OF  ROMAN  LITERATURE. 

(Pages  329-388.) 

Periods  of  the  Golden  Age,  329.— Cicero,  330.— Varro,  337.— Julius  Caesar,  339. 
— Sallust,  3-43.— Cornelius  Nepos,  347. — Poets  of  the  Ciceronian  Period,  348. — Lu- 
cretius, 348.— Catullus,  352. — Poetry  of  the  Augustan  Age,  354. — Virgil,  355. — 
Virgil's  Eclogues,  359.— Georgics,  360.— ^Eneid,  362.— Horace,  369.— Varius,  375. 
— Tibullus,  375.— Propertius,  377. — Ovid,  379.— Prose  Writers  of  the  Augustan 
Age,  382.— Livy,  382. 

CHAPTER  IV. — AGE  OF  DECLINE. 

(Pages  388-428.) 

Silver  Age  of  Roman  Letters,  388. — Velleius  Paterculus,  389. — Valerius  Maxi- 
mus,  389.— Celsus,  390.— Phsedrus,  390.— Persius,  392.— Seneca,  394.— Lucan,  397. 
—Pliny  the  Elder,  401.— Martial,  404.— Statins,  405.— Sulpitia,  406.— Quintilian, 
407.— Juvenal,  408.— Tacitus,  412.— Suetonius,  415.— Pliny  the  Younger.  418.— 
Apuleius,  420. — Latin  Father?,  421. — Specimens  of  Later  Latin  Poetry,  423.— 
Gems  of  Latin  Thought,  425. 


HISTORY  OF  ANCIENT  LITERATURE. 


INTRODUCTION. 

LITERATURE,  in  its  broadest  sense,  comprises  the  written 
productions  of  all  nations  in  all  ages.  It  is  the  permanent 
expression  of  the  intellectual  power  of  man,  and  reflects  the 
popular  manners,  the  political  condition,  the  moral  and  relig- 
ious status.  In  its  literary  productions,  a  nation  bequeaths 
to  posterity  an  ever-speaking  record  of  its  inner  life. 

The  history  of  literature  traces  the  progress  of  the  human 
mind  from  age  to  age,  by  landmarks  erected  by  the  mind  it- 
self. It  represents  the  development  of  different  phases  of 
thought  in  written  language,  and  shows  their  influence  in 
moulding  the  public  taste  and  morals.  It  investigates  the 
connection  between  the  literatures  of  different  countries,  con- 
siders the  causes  of  their  growth  and  their  decay,  and  criti- 
cally examines  the  works  of  individual  authors. 

Literature  may  be  divided  into  two  parts,  Ancient  and 
Modern.  The  former,  to  which  this  volume  is  devoted,  in- 
cludes the  literatures  of  the  ancient  Oriental  nations,  the 
Greeks,  and  the  Romans.  To  the  second  division  belong 
the  literatures  of  modern  Europe,  of  the  modern  Oriental 
nations,  and  of  America. 

After  considering  the  origin  and  relationship  of  languages, 
A  2 


12  INTRODUCTION. 

we  shall  give  a  brief  summary  of  the  history  of  ancient  lit- 
erature as  a  whole,  without  national  divisions ;  so  that  the 
reader,  having  previously  followed  the  progress  of  letters 
from  age  to  age  and  people  to  people,  may  be  enabled  to 
study  more  intelligently  the  separate  literatures  of  the  dif- 
ferent countries. 

ORIGIN  AND  RELATIONSHIP  OF  LANGUAGES. 

The  Dawn  of  History. — When  the  mist  that  envelops  the 
early  history  of  the  world  first  rises,  it  discovers  to  our  view, 
in  parts  of  western  Asia,  communities  more  or  less  advanced 
in  knowledge  and  the  arts,  gathered  about  certain  centres  of 
civilization ;  and  others,  of  less  culture,  leading  a  wandering 
life,  spent  mostly,  we  may  conjecture,  in  the  chase,  in  preda- 
tory excursions,  and  the  tending  of  herds.  We  find  at  this 
time  a  thrifty  race,  called  Aryans,  settled  in  the  fair  dis- 
trict between  the  Hindoo  Koosh  Mountains  and  the  upper 
course  of  the  Amoo  River — the  ancient  Bactria  (part  of  what 
is  now  Turkestan  and  Afghanistan;  see  Map,  p.  15).  The 
region  watered  by  the  rivers  Euphrates  and  Tigris  was  occu- 
pied by  the  forefathers  of  the  Chaldeans  and  Assyrians,  the 
Jews  and  Arabians  ;  while  over  the  plains  of  Tartary,  known 
as  Turan,  wandering  tribes  were  spread — whence  their  name, 
Turanians,  sivift  horsemen.  Corresponding  with  these  three 
divisions  of  the  human  race  are  three  distinct  families  of 
languages,  —  the  ARYAN  or  INDO-EUROPEAN,  the  SEMITIC, 
and  the  TURANIAN, — embracing  more  than  one  hundred  and 
fifty  tongues. 

In  Africa,  also,  civilization  was  a  plant  of  early  growth,  Egypt 
ranking  among  the  most  ancient  monarchies.  Europe,  how- 
ever, in  these  primeval  ages,  was  either  a  tenantless  wilderness 
or  the  home  of  rude  adventurers  like  the  Lapps  and  Finns,  of 
whom  the  Basques  in  the  Pyrenees  are  perhaps  the  only  rem- 
nants in  the  west. 


RELATIONSHIP    OF   LANGUAGES.  ]  3 

THE   ARYANS. 

The  Aryans  have  left  no  account  of  themselves  sculptured 
on  rocks  or  the  walls  of  crumbling  temples  ;  but  by  careful 
study  of  the  languages  of  Aryan  origin  we  obtain,  after  the 
lapse  of  four  thousand  years,  a  glimpse  of  the  social  condition 
of  those  who  spoke  the  mother-tongue  among  the  mountains 
of  Bactria.  We  infer  that  nouns  similar  in  the  various  de- 
rived languages, — as  father  (protector),  brother  (helper),  house, 
door,  walls,  boat/ grain,  etc., — are  the  names  of  objects  or  no- 
tions familiar  to  the  original  family.*  Thus  utilizing  language 
as  a  key  to  what  would  otherwise  be  locked  up  in  the  unknown 
past,  we  learn  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  fertile  Bactrian  val- 
leys were  devoted  to  agricultural  pursuits.  Tilling  the  ground 
was  an  honorable  employment,  the  very  name  Aryan  signify- 
ing high-born,  noble.  We  have  pictured  to  us  law-abiding  com- 
munities, grouped  together  in  towns,  ruled  by  chiefs  and  a 
king,  recognizing  family  ties,  entertaining  exalted  conceptions 
of  woman,  and  a  solemn  regard  for  the  marriage  bond — the 
latter  always  a  mark  of  high  civilization. 

Language  also  tells  us  that  this  interesting  people  preferred 
the  arts  of  peace  to  war.  With  the  dog  for  his  companion,  the 
shepherd  folded  his  flocks  of  sheep  ;  with  the  horse  and  ox 
for  his  servants,  the  landholder  broke  the  soil  with  a  plough 
of  bronze.  Pigs  and  fowls  were  raised ;  cattle  formed  the 
chief  wealth  ;  and  the  cows  were  milked  by  the  daughter  of 
the  household — this  name  meaning  milk-maid. 

The  Aryan  drove  from  village  to  village  in  his  wheeled  car- 


*  A  thousand  words  have  thus  been  traced  through  the  sister  languages  of 
Aryan  birth — a  number  certainly  adequate  to  the  wants  of  primitive  man,  when 
we  remember  that  of  more  than  100,000  words  which  constitute  our  present  vo- 
cabulary but  3,000  are  in  common  use.  The  Old  Testament  was  translated  with 
the  help  of  only  5,642  English  words.  While  Shakespeare's  genius  required 
21,000  words  for  its  expression,  Milton's  epic  employs  less  than  half  that  number. 


14  INTKODUCTION. 

riage,  over  well-constructed  roads  ;  worked  the  metals  ;  plied 
the  loom  ;  moulded  clay  into  pottery  ;  and  even  navigated 
the  neighboring  waters  in  boats  propelled  by  oars.  He  gave 
names  to  numbers  as  far  as  one  hundred,  was  familiar  with 
the  principles  of  decimals,  and  took  the  moon  for  his  guide  in 
dividing  the  year  into  months. 

A  Supreme  Being  was  worshipped  in  Bactria,  the  Great 
Unseen,  the  Creator  and  Governor  of  the  world.  In  the  ref- 
erence to  him  of  controversies  that  were  difficult  to  settle,  we 
trace  the  origin  of  the  later  trial  by  ordeal.  Even  some  of 
our  commonest  stories  are  derived  from  fables  current  at 
least  two  thousand  years  B.C.  in  ancient  Arya. 

Aryan  Migrations. — Few  in  number  at  first,  the  Aryans 
long  lived  peaceably  together.  But  as  the  population  grew 
denser,  great  bodies,  either  compelled  to  search  for  food  in 
other  lands  or  moved  by  a  thirst  for  exploration,  broke  away 
at  different  periods  from  the  cradle  of  their  race,  in  quest  of 
new  abodes. 

The  first  to  leave  were  the  Celts,  who,  passing  between  the 
Caspian  Sea  and  the  Black,  made  their  way  westward  into 
Europe,  and,  conquering  an  indigenous  population  of  sup- 
posed Turanian  origin,  possessed  themselves  of  its  fairest 
lands.*  Following  them,  but  by  a  route  north  of  the  Caspian, 
and  ever  pushing  them  toward  the  west,  came  the  Slavonian 
and  Teutonic  tribes — the  former,  the  ancestors  of  the  Russians 
and  Servians,  Poles  and  Bohemians  ;  the  latter,  of  the  Goths, 
Scandinavians,  and  German  nations.  Of  the  Aryans  who  thus 
migrated  to  the  northwest,  Max  Miiller  says  that  they  "  have 
been  the  prominent  actors  in  the  great  drama  of  history,  and 
have  carried  to  their  fullest  growth  all  the  elements  of  active 


*  In  common  with  the  Celts,  the  North  American  Indians,  Chinese,  Egyptians, 
and  other  ancient  nations,  cherished  a  tradition  that  they  had  supplanted  an  orig- 
inal population — the  children  of  the  soil — of  low  intellectual  powers,  feeders  on 
roots,  hole-dwellers,  serpent-eaters. 


AKYAN   MIGRATIONS. 


15 


life  with  which  our  nature  is  endowed.  They  have  perfected 
society  and  morals.  They  have  become,  after  struggles  with 
Semitic  and  Turanian  races,  the  rulers  of  history;  and  it  seems 
to  be  their  mission  to  link  all  parts  of  the  world  together  by 
the  chains  of  civilization,  commerce,  and  religion." 


After  the  last  emigration  of  Aryans  to  the  west,  the  parent 
community  extended  its  settlements  southward  into  the  Table- 
land of  Iran  (e'rahri)  (modern  Persia,  Afghanistan,  and  Beloo- 
chistan  ;  see  Map),  and  finally,  in  consequence  of  a  religious 
difference,  separated  into  two  great  branches.  One  remained 
on  the  Iranian  plateau,  and  was  ultimately  known  in  history 
as  the  Medes  and  Persians.  The  other  made  its  way  through 


16  INTRODUCTION. 

the  mountain-passes,  crossed  the  upper  Indus  (at  some  uncer- 
tain date,  between  2000  and  1400  B.C.),  and  in  time  effected 
the  conquest  of  the  rich  peninsula  of  Hindostan.  The  invad- 
ers were  the  "  fair-complexioned  "  Indo- Aryans,  who  spoke  the 
polished  Sanscrit,  and  among  whom  sprung  up  the  institution 
of  caste  and  many  gross  superstitions. 

Aryan  Languages. — Similarity  in  the  words  and  grammati- 
cal structure  of  their  languages  proves  that  the  Hindoos,  the 
Persians,  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  the  Celtic  races,  the  Sla- 
vonian and  Teutonic  nations, — all  had  a  common  origin ;  that 
the  frozen  Icelander  and  Indian  fire-worshipper,  the  outcast 
Gypsy  and  the  plaided  Highlander,  the  English  master  and 
his  Cooley  servant,  are  brothers  of  the  same  stock.  Their 
tongues  have  been  derived  from  the  same  parent — a  language 
full  of  poetic  grandeur,  older  than  Greek  or  Sanscrit,  and  con- 
taining the  germs  of  both — a  language  which  has  perished. 

Spoken  as  we  have  seen  from  India  to  the  west  of  Europe, 
these  tongues  have  been  called  INDO-EUROPEAN.  They  em- 
brace the  dialects  of  India  and  Persia ;  the  Welsh,  and  the 
Celtic  of  Scotland  and  Ireland  ;  the  Latin  and  its  derivatives, 
the  Romance  languages,  viz.,  Italian,  Spanish,  Portuguese, 
French,  Provencal,  and  Wallachian  ;  Greek  ;  Russian,  Polish, 
and  Bohemian  ;  English,  German,  Dutch,  Danish,  and  Swed- 
ish (see  Linguistic  Map  of  Europe  and  Chart,  preceding  the 
title-page).  The  relationship  existing  among  these  tongues 
of  the  Indo-European  race — preeminently  the  race  of  progres- 
sive civilization — has  been  established  by  the  study  of  their 
several  grammars. 

THE    SEMITES. 

The  Semitic  Languages,  in  like  manner,  may  all  be  traced 
to  a  common  source.  To  this  group  belong  the  Syriac,  the 
Hebrew,  the  Arabic,  the  Ethiopic,  the  ancient  Phoenician,  and 
the  Carthaginian  ;  while  the  cuneiform  inscriptions  of  Bab- 


SEMITES    AND   TURANIANS.  17 

ylonia  and  Assyria  are  the  written  characters  of  a  Semitic 
tongue  common  to  those  countries.     (See  Chart,  p.  85.) 

Philology  has  not  followed  the  Semites  to  a  home  as  limited 
as  that  of  the  Aryans ;  through  tradition  points  to  Armenia  as 
their  early  domicile.  It  declares,  however,  the  Semitic  and 
the  Aryan  to  be  distinct  families  of  speech,  which,  while  both 
may  be  branches  from  a  common  parent  stem,  could  not 
have  been  derived  one  from  the  other. 

THE   TURANIANS. 

Turanian  Dialects. — Here  there  is  slighter  evidence  of  rela- 
tionship. The  Turanian  languages,  though  they  seem  to  be 
members  of  the  same  original  family,  differ  widely  ;  for  those 
who  spoke  them  were  nomads,  wanderers  over  the  globe, 
whose  customs,  laws,  and  dialects  were  modified  with  every 
change  of  habitation  and  condition.  To  this  sporadic  group 
belong  the  Mongolian  tongues,  the  Turkish,  Finnic,  and  Hun- 
garian, together  with  certain  Polynesian  dialects ;  but  the 
Chinese,  Japanese,  Australian,  North  American  Indian,  South 
African,  and  many  others  of  the  nine  hundred  languages 
spoken  on  the  earth,  bear  hardly  enough  resemblance  to 
these  to  be  classed  in  the  same  family. 

SYSTEMS    OF   WRITING. 

Language  is  either  spoken  or  written.  Spoken  language 
we  find  to  have  been  used  as  a  medium  of  communication  be- 
tween men  in  the  earliest  periods  to  which  history  carries  us 
back.  It  is  the  expression  of  reason,  and  as  such  constitutes 
a  line  of  demarcation  between  man  and  the  lower  animals. 
Without  it,  indeed,  the  brute  can,  to  a  certain  extent,  make 
known  his  emotions  and  desires.  The  house-dog,  by  the  dis- 
tinctive character  of  liis  bark,  welcomes  his  master  or  threat- 
ens the  intrusive  stranger.  The  hen  warns  her  chicks  of  dan- 
ger by  one  set  of  signals,  and  calls  them  to  feed  by  another. 


1 8  INTRODUCTION. 

The  ant,  discovering  an  inviting  grain  too  heavy  for  itself 
alone,  bears  the  intelligence  to  its  fellows  and  promptly  returns 
with  aid.  But  such  limited  means  of  communication  fall  infi- 
nitely short  of  the  perfect  system  vvhich  is  exclusively  man's 
birthright — which  uses  articulate  sounds  to  represent  ideas, 
and  combines  them  so  as  to  express  every  shade  of  thought. 

Written  Language.— Spoken  Language  lives  only  for  the 
moment ;  words  uttered  to-day  die  and  are  forgotten  to-mor- 
row. To  give  permanency  to  his  passing  thoughts,  when  ad- 
vancing civilization  showed  such  permanency  to  be  desirable, 
man  devised  Writing,  the  art  of  representing  ideas  by  visible 
characters.  Written  Language  is  the  vehicle  of  literature — 
the  material  in  which  the  thinker  embodies  his  conceptions 
for  future  generations,  just  as  the  sculptor  gives  permanent 
forms  to  his  ideals  in  marble,  or  the  painter  on  the  glowing 
canvas. 

Writing  is  either  Ideographic'  or  Phonetic.  The  Ideo- 
graphic System  represents  material  objects  and  abstract  no- 
tions directly,  by  pictures  or  symbols.  The  Phonetic  System 
uses  certain  characters  to  express  the  articulate  sounds  by 
which  such  objects  or  notions  are  denoted,  and  thus  indirect- 
ly, through  the  two  media  of  sounds  and  characters,  indicates 
the  objects  or  notions  themselves. 

IDEOGRAPHIC  WRITING. — The  earliest  mode  of  conveying 
ideas  of  visible  objects  was  by  pictorial  imitations.  We  have 
examples  of  it  in  the  original  hieroglyphics  of  Egypt  and 
China,  and  the  cuneiform  letters  borrowed  from  their  Tura- 
nian inventors  by  the  Assyrians  and  Persians.  It  was  also 
practised  by  the  Aztecs  or  ancient  Mexicans,  and  the  inhab- 
itants of  Central  America.  Thought-painting,  as  it  may  be 
called,  has  this  advantage,  that  to  a  certain  extent  it  is  under- 
stood as  well  by  the  illiterate  classes  at  home  as  by  foreign 
nations  speaking  different  tongues. 

Hieroglyphics,  at  first  purely  pictorial,  at  length  became 


SYSTEMS    OF   WRITING.  19 

symbolic,  an  action  or  idea  being  represented  by  the  outline 
of  some  material  object  to  which  it  was  thought  to  bear  anal- 
ogy. A  picture  of  two  legs,  for  instance,  stood  for  the  act  of 
walking;  a  battle  was  indicated  by  two  men  engaged  in  con- 
flict ;  eternity,  by  a  circle  ;  brightness,  by  a  combination  of 

the  sun  and  moon,  thus 


The  hieroglyphic  system  was  objectionable  on  account  of 
the  multitude  of  symbols  required,  as  well  as  the  impos- 
sibility of  expressing  grammatical  relations.  It  therefore 
gradually  went  out  of  use,  while  its  characters  were  bor- 
rowed to  denote  the  sounds  of  spoken  language.  During  the 
transition  period,  however,  these  characters  in  many  cases 
retained  also  their  original  signification  ;  as  if  we  should 
denote  by  one  and  the  same  symbol  (a  picture  of  the  ani- 
mal) the  dog,  and  the  syllable  dog  in  the  word  dogmatical 
—  or  by  J  (formed  from  the  outline  of  a  jay 
both  the  idea  bird  and  the  sound  of  the  letter/ 
This  of  course  led  to  great  confusion,  and  was 
long  an  insuperable  obstacle  to  the  interpretation 
of  the  cuneiform  or  wedge-shaped  letters. 

PHONETIC  WRITING. — There  are  two  systems  of  phonetic 
writing,  the  Syllabic  and  the  Alphabetic.  The  characters  of 
the  former  are  used  to  represent  syllables,  or  combinations  of 
sounds  (either  words  or  parts  of  words)  uttered  by  distinct  im- 
pulses of  the  voice  ;  those  of  the  latter  represent  the  elements 
of  which  these  syllables  are  composed,  or  letters. 

The  characters  by  which  the  elementary  sounds  of  any  lan- 
guage are  denoted,  arranged  in  order,  constitute  its  Alphabet. 
A  perfect  alphabet  would  be  one  in  which  every  letter  repre- 
sented but  one  simple  sound,  and  every  simple  sound  was 
represented  by  but  one  letter — a  perfection  never  yet  attained. 

It  is  to  the  Egyptians  that  the  world  is  indebted  for  Alpha- 
betic Writing.  Their  hieroglyphics,  at  first  true  pictures,  then 


20  INTRODUCTION. 

symbols  corresponding  to  abstract  ideas,  finally  became,  as  we 
have  seen,  the  signs  of  articulate  sounds.  But  in  Egypt  the 
phonetic  system  was  imperfect,  the  same  sound  having  several 
symbols,  and  the  same  symbol  standing  for  many  sounds.  It 
was  left  for  the  Phoenicians  to  remedy  these  faults,  and  com- 
plete the  work  thus  begun. 

Brought  into  commercial  relations  with  Egypt  at  an  early 
date,  this  enterprising  people  at  once  saw  the  advantages  of 
phonetic  writing ;  and  by  rejecting  the  ideograms  (pictures 
denoting  material  objects),  but  retaining  and  modifying  the 
phonetic  symbols  used  in  that  country,  they  perfected  an  al- 
phabetic system.  The  Phoenician  alphabet  contained  at  first 
sixteen  letters,  to  which  six  more  were  finally  added. 

Such  is  the  most  probable  account  of  the  origin  of  letters. 
Tradition  variously  ascribes  their  invention  to  Thoth  an 
Egyptian,  to  Cadmus  the  Phoenician,  to  Odin  the  supreme 
deity  of  the  Scandinavians,  and  to  others.  Of  the  varied  ex- 
ports of  the  Phoenicians,  their  alphabet  was  the  most  precious. 
Wherever  their  sails  were  spread,  their  letters  were  made 
known,  and  all  nations  sooner  or  later  profited  by  this  great 
Semitic  invention.  In  the  table  on  page  87  may  be  traced 
a  decided  resemblance  between  several  of  the  Phoenician 
characters  and  the  hieroglyphics  in  which  they  originated; 
also  the  successive  changes  by  which  they  were  modified  in 
the  earlier  and  later  Greek  and  Latin  letters — whence  most 
of  our  English  capitals. 

Modes  of  Writing-  and  Pointing. — As  regards  the  direction 
in  which  their  writing  ran,  ancient  nations  differed.  In  the 
Egyptian  hieroglyphics  there  was  no  established  order ;  but 
the  figures  of  men  and  animals,  facing  the  beginning  of  the 
lines,  often  gave  a  clue  to  the  direction  in  which  they  were 
meant  to  be  read.  As  a  general  rule,  the  Indo-Europeans 
wrote  from  left  to  right,  the  Semites  from  right  to  left.  The 
Laws  of  Solon  and  other  Greek  writings  of  that  period  (about 


MODES    OF   PUNCTUATING.  21 

600  B.C.)  appeared  in  lines  running  alternately  from  right  to 
left  and  from  left  to  right,  as  an  ox  walks  in  ploughing ;  this 
"ox-turning  system"  (boustrophedon\  however,  was  soon  fol- 
lowed by  our  present  method.  The  Chinese,  Japanese,  and 
Mongols,  wrote  in  columns,  which  were  read  from  the  top 
of  the  page,  and  from  right  to  left.  In  the  ancient  Mexican 
pictographs,  similar  columns  were  read  from  the  bottom. 

The  ancients  did  not  separate  sentences,  or  their  subdi- 
visions, with  points ;  but  wrote  their  words  together,  leaving 
the  meaning  to  be  deciphered  from  the  context.  Rings,  ovals, 
or  squares,  were  sometimes  drawn  around  proper  names,  and 
words  were  occasionally  separated  by  some  device— a  diag- 
onal bar  or  wedge  ^,  as  in  ancient  Persian  inscriptions;  or 
a  letter  placed  on  its  side,  as  between  the  following  words  : 
CONJUGHKARISSIMAE.  In  a  Roman  inscription  found 
near  Bath,  England,  a  small  v  occurs  after  every  word : 
JULIUSvVITALISvFABRI.  A  peculiar  sign  was  used, 
in  some  cases,  immediately  before  the  name  of  a  god  or  of 
a  person. 

In  the  third  century  B.C.,  a  system  of  punctuation,  devised 
by  Aristophanes,  a  grammarian  of  Alexandria,  became  known 
to  the  Greeks.  It  employed  a  dot  (.),  which  had  the  force  of 
our  period,  colon,  or  comma,  according  as  it  was  placed  after 
the  top,  middle,  or  bottom  of  the  final  word.  The  better  sys- 
tem of  modern  times  was  not  invented  till  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury. 

ANCIENT   WRITING    MATERIALS. 

Stylus  and  Tablets. — The  first  writing  was  done  on  rocks 
with  sharp-pointed  instruments  of  iron  or  bronze,  to  record 
great  events.  Next  came  tracings  on  bricks  of  soft  clay,  af- 
terward hardened  by  baking ;  and  then  writing  with  a  metal 
or  ivory  stylus  on  sheets  of  lead  or  layers  of  wax,  from  which 
erasures  could  be  made,  if  needful,  with  the  flattened  end  of 
the  instrument. 


22  rXTKODUCTIOX. 

Pliny  speaks  of  leaden  sheets,  thus  inscribed,  rolled  up  in  a 
cylindrical  form  when  not  in  use.  But  under  provocation  the 
metallic  stylus  could  be  employed  as  a  dagger;  and  when  a 
Roman  schoolmaster  was  killed  by  his  pupils  with  their  styles 
and  heavy  table-books,  the  dangerous  instrument  was  ban- 
ished, and  superseded  by  a  similar  one  of  horn.  The  early 
shepherds,  we  are  told,  imitated  this  mode  of  writing,  making 
thorns  or  awls  do  duty  as  styles,  and  scratching  their  songs 
on  leather  straps  which  they  wound  round  their  crooks. 

Wooden  tablets,  glazed  to  receive  coloring  matter,  were 
used  by  the  Jews  and  early  Egyptians,  and  the  former  wrote 
also  with  a  diamond-tipped  stylus  on  stone  or  metallic  tables. 
The  Greeks  and  Romans  sometimes  wired  their  tablets  of 
citron-wood,  beech,  or  fir,  together  at  the  back,  so  as  to  allow 
them  to  open  like  a  modern  book. 

Calamus,  or  Reed. — A  great  advance  was  made  when  the 
stylus  gave  way  to  camel's  hair  brushes  or  reeds  (calami} 
sharpened  and  split  like  our  pens,  and  the  tablets  were  re- 
placed with  papyrus  and  parchment.  The  reeds  in  common 
use  came  from  Egypt,  but  persons  of  fortune  often  wrote  with 
a  silver  calamus.  The  ink  employed  was  thicker  and  more 
lasting  than  ours;  sometimes  prepared  from  the  black  fluid 
of  the  cuttle-fish,  but  generally  from  lampblack  and  glue,  or 
from  soot,  rosin,  and  pitch. — Chalk  pencils  were  at  one  time 
manufactured  by  the  Egyptians  and  Greeks. 

With  the  reed  and  ink,  bark  came  into  use  as  a  cheap 
writing  material ;  hence  the  Latin  word  for  bark,  liber,  meant 
also  book.  Leaves,  too,  were  employed  for  this  purpose,  par- 
ticularly those  of  the  palm— whence,  perhaps,  the  leaf  of  a 
book  was  so  called.  But  for  manuscripts  designed  for  per- 
manent preservation,  papyrus  had  the  decided  preference. 

Papyrus,  or  the  /tf/<?r-plant,  the  bulrush  of  Scripture,  grew 
in  the  marshes  and  pools  of  Egypt.  Its  branchless  stem 
rose  from  five  to  ten  feet  above  the  water,  and  was  sur- 


PAPYRUS    AND    PARCHMENT. 


23 


mounted  by  a  cluster  of  long,  spike-shaped,  drooping  leaves. 
This  plant  was  woven 
into  sandals,  mats,  cloth- 
ing, and  even  boats ;  was 
eaten,  raw  and  boiled  ; 
was  manufactured  into 
furniture  ;  and  was  burn- 
ed for  fuel  and  light ; 
when  prepared  for  writ- 
ing  purposes,  it  was  in- 
valuable. The  part  un- 
der the  water  was  se- 
lected, the  outer  bark 
removed,  and  the  deli- 
cate white  layers  found 
beneath  were  pressed  to- 
gether into  sheets  and 

dried.       These  Were  writ-  EGYPTIAN  PAI-YBLS. 

ten  on  with  red  and  black  ink,  and  some  of  them  were 
elaborately  ornamented  with  many-colored  figures. 

The  finest  papyrus  was  reserved  for  the  priests,  and  never 
exported  till  they  had  used  it.  But  the  Romans,  having  in- 
vented a  process  for  removing  what  was  first  written  on  it, 
imported  it  in  large  quantities;  they  also  attempted  its  cul- 
tivation in  the  marshes  of  the  Tiber,  but  without  success. 
The  Greeks  did  not  use  it  extensively  until  the  era  of  the 
Ptolemies. 

Parchment  was  prepared  from  the  skins  of  sheep  and 
goats  by  polishing  them  with  pumice  -  stone  and  then  rub- 
bing in  fragrant  oil.  Its  name,  in  Latin  pergamena,  would 
seem  to  indicate  Pergamus  in  western  Asia  as  the  place  of 
its  origin;  but  centuries  before  that  little  kingdom  became 
celebrated  for  its  library  of  parchment  volumes,  this  material, 
or  something  very  like  it,  was  known.  Herodotus  mentions 


24 


INTRODUCTION. 


its  use  in  his  time  ;  and  the  Jews,  as  a  pastoral  people  fa- 
miliar with  the  art  of  dressing  skins,  wrote  their  first  books 
on  a  kind  of  leather. 

But  if  parchment  was  not  invented  at  Pergamus,  Eu'menes, 
king  of  that  country,  was  certainly  the  first  to  make  exten- 
sive use  of  it  (175  B.C.).  He  had  founded  a  splendid  li- 


READING  A  VOLUMES,  OK  ROLL. 

brary,  which  he  determined  should  eclipse  that  of  Alexandria. 
In  the  reign  of  Ptolemy  Epiph'anes,  king  of  Egypt,  it  was 
sought  to  prevent  the  transcription  of  books  for  the  rival 
library  by  prohibiting  the  exportation  of  papyrus.  This 
obliged  Eumenes  to  resort  to  parchment  as  a  substitute. 
From  Pergamus  it  spread  to  Europe,  finally  superseding  all 


ANCIENT   MANUSCRIPTS.  25 

other  materials,  and  continuing  in  demand  until  the  art  of 
making  paper  cheaply  from  rags  was  invented  in  the  four- 
teenth century. 

Ancient  manuscripts  were  put  up  in  the  form  of  rolls 
(volu'mina  —  whence  volumes),  made  of  sheets  fastened  to- 
gether in  a  continuous  strip,  sometimes  forty  or  fifty  yards 
in  length.  This  was  wound  round  wooden  cylinders,  the 
ends  of  which  were  often  set  with  jewels,  or  ornamented  with 
knobs  of  ivory,  silver,  or  gold.  Titles  were  either  suspended 
from  these  books  like  tags,  or  glued  upon  them  as  labels. 
An  outside  cover  of  parchment  protected  the  scrolls,  which, 
enclosed  in  cylindrical  cases  and  placed  horizontally  on 
shelves  ranged  about  a  room,  constituted  an  ancient  library. 

The  Chinese,  after  writing  for  centuries,  in  common  with 
their  neighbors  of  India,  on  bark  and  dried  palm-leaves,  are 
believed  to  have  discovered  a  process  of  preparing  a  pulp 
from  cotton  or  bamboo,  and  to  have  manufactured  it  into 
paper  as  early  as  the  commencement  of  our  era.  Perhaps, 
as  observation  of  the  silkworm  spinning  her  cocoons  led 
them  to  devise  the  art  of  weaving  silk,  they  in  like  manner 
borrowed  his  cunning  from  the  paper-making  wasp,  and  thus 
early  perfected  an  invention  which  has  been  of  incalculable 
service  to  literature. 

GENERAL    VIEW   OF  THE  HISTORY   OF  ANCIENT 
LITERATURE. 

A  comprehensive  glance  over  the  entire  field  whose  treas- 
ures we  are  about  to  examine  in  detail,  will  enable  us  the 
better  to  appreciate  and  remember  their  relative  age  and 
value.  Beginning,  then,  with  the  most  distant  periods,  we 
find  a  literature  developed  in  Mesopotamia,  Egypt,  Iran,  and 
China,  as  early  as  2000  B.C.  At  that  date,  the  valley  of  .the 
Euphrates  and  Tigris  was  the  seat  of  a  civilized  Turanian 
people,  the  inventors  of  the  complex  system  of  cuneiform 


26  INTKODUCTION. 

writing,  thought  by  some  to  be  the  oldest  in  the  world. 
These  Turanian  Chaldees,  mingled  with  a  Semitic  race,  were 
then  beginning  to  enjoy  their  golden  age  of  letters;  at  the 
same  time,  the  ancient  Persians  and  Hindoos  were  compos- 
ing hymns  ;  the  sages  of  China  were  busy  on  their  sacred 
books  ;  and  Egypt  had  doubtless  made  considerable  advance 
in  both  poetry  and  prose. 

To  trace  the  progress  of  literature  in  these  remote  times 
from  century  to  century  is  impossible.  Five  hundred  years, 
however,  bring  us  to  the  Augustan  era  of  romance  and  satire, 
epic  and  devotional  poetry,  in  Egypt :  they  introduce  us  to 
Zoroas'ter,  the  founder  or  reformer  of  the  ancient  Persian 
religion,  whose  teachings  are  set  forth  in  the  Aves'ta ;  to  the 
Ve'da,  or  Brahman  Bible;  to  Moses  and  the  Pentateuch; 
and  to  Phoenician  theology,  science,  and  poetry.  Meanwhile 
Chaldean  literature  declines,  and  Assyrian  letters  come  into 
view.  During  the  next  five  centuries,  poetry  and  science 
continue  to  flourish  in  Egypt,  though  not  perhaps  with  their 
pristine  vigor  ;  Phoenicia  maintains  her  literary  reputation  ; 
the  Veda  grows  ;  and  Persian  priests  are  occupied  in  en- 
larging and  modifying  their  sacred  texts. 

1000  B.C.  was  the  era  of  the  great  epics.  The  epic,  or  nar- 
rative poem,  based  on  some  important  event  (in  Greek,  tirog) 
or  chain  of  events,  though  first  appearing  in  Egypt — the  moth- 
er-land of  literature  as  well  as  science  and  art — was  simulta- 
neously brought  to  perfection,  about  this  time,  by  the  Greeks 
and  Hindoos,  Aryan  nations  holding  no  intercourse  with  each 
other  and  separated  by  at  least  three  thousand  miles.  Ho- 
mer's Iliad  and  Odyssey,  the  wonder  of  Hellas,  were  paralleled 
by  two  stupendous  Indian  poems,  the  Ramayana  (rah-mafi- 
yd-na)  and  the  Maha.bha.rata  (ma-hati bah' ra-ta),  the  great 
masterpieces  of  Sanscrit  poetry.  To  these,  all  dazzling  with 
Oriental  splendor,  the  epics  of  the  Greek  bard  may  yield 
in  luxuriance  of  fancy  and  gorgeous  imagery ;  but  in  power 


GENERAL    VIEW    OF    ANCIENT    LITERATURE.  27 

of  description,  sublimity  of  thought,  and  attractive  simplicity 
of  expression,  Homer  was  without  an  equal. 

While,  then,  the  Semitic  Hebrews  and  Phoenicians  used 
prose  as  the  vehicle  of  their  earliest  records  of  events,  Greece 
and  India,  types  of  the  Aryan  stock,  transmitted  their  legends 
to  posterity  in  epic  verse.  Later  times  have  not  failed  to  per- 
petuate the  taste,  and  measurably  the  ability  ;  epic  poetry  has 
been  cultivated  by  all  the  Indo-European  nations,  and  to  them 
it  has  been  confined. — Contemporaneously  with  Homer,  native 
poets  were  inditing  ballads  and  pastorals  in  China,  and  the 
Hebrews  enjoyed  their  golden  age  of  secular  and  religious 
poetry ;  Egypt  had  entered  on  her  literary,  as  well  as  her  po- 
litical, decline. 

Henceforth  our  interest  centres  principally  in  Greece.  Un- 
til 800  B.C.,  the  poems  of  Homer  and  of  Hesiod,  his  contem- 
porary or  immediate  successor,  constituted  the  bulk  of  Hel- 
lenic literature.  Then  began  a  transition  to  a  poetry  more 
natural — a  poetry  of  the  emotions — on  themes  that  kindled 
love,  anger,  hatred,  grief,  hope  ;  and  for  three  centuries  lyrics 
in  different  forms  echoed  throughout  the  land.  Archil'ochus 
poured  forth  his  caustic  satires ;  Tyrtasus,  his  inspiriting  war- 
songs  ;  Sappho,  her  passionate  strains ;  Anacreon,  the  joys  of 
the  wine-cup;  Simon'ides  breathed  his  touching  laments;  and 
Pindar  stirred  the  soul  with  his  grand  odes,  as  with  the  sound 
of  the  trumpet.  Prose  also  received  attention,  and  Ionian 
authors  took  the  initiative  in  systematic  historical  composition. 
Rude  religious  festivals  suggested  dramatic  representations ; 
and  the  pioneers  in  tragedy  and  comedy  rode  about  the 
country,  exhibiting  their  novel  art  on  carts  which  carried 
the  performers  and  their  machinery.  —  Meanwhile  in  the 
East,  Assyrian  literature  reached  its  highest  development 
at  Nineveh,  to  be  buried  beneath  the  ruins  of  that  city, 
625  B.C.  Letters  then  revived  at  Babylon,  and  for  nearly  a 
century  flourished  there ;  Jewish  poetry  declined ;  and  Con- 


28  INTRODUCTION. 

fucius,  the  philosopher  of  transcendent  wisdom,  appeared  in 
China. 

Early  in  the  5th  century,  Greece  plunged  into  a  struggle  for 
life  or  death  with  the  Persian  Empire — a  struggle  from  which 
she  emerged  covered  with  glory,  united  and  free.  Her  tri- 
umph is  straightway  sung  in  immortal  verse,  and  historians 
arise  to  record  her  exploits.  Athens,  who  faced  the  enemy  at 
Marathon,  Salamis,  and  Plataea,  and  drove  him  back  crippled 
and  disgraced  to  Asia,  now  becomes  the  leader  of  grateful 
Hellas,  and  the  centre  of  literature  and  refinement.  Blossom 
after  blossom  unfolds  in  her  genial  clime.  She  makes  ample 
amends  for  her  barrenness  in  the  past  by  unprecedented  fruit- 
fulness,  and  gives  to  the  nations  a  drama,  lustrous  with  the 
names  of  yEschylus,  Sophocles,  Euripides  (es'ke-lus,sqf'o-k!eez, 
cu-rip'e-deez] — the  great  tragic  trio  of  antiquity.  Comedy  also, 
as  represented  by  Aristophanes,  is  perfected  in  her  theatre. 

Then  come  the  Peloponnesian  War  and  the  consequent  hu- 
miliation of  Athens  ;  the  overthrow  of  her  democratic  govern- 
ment, and  the  partial  decline  of  literature,  particularly  poetry, 
with  the  fall  of  free  institutions.  Still,  writers  of  genius  are 
not  wanting.  The  graphic  pens  of  Thucydides  and  Xenophon 
lend  additional  graces  to  the  history  of  Greece ;  Plato  and 
Aristotle  make  her  name  immortal  in  philosophy;  and  the 
world's  greatest  orators  electrify  her  assemblies  with  their  elo- 
quence. Demosthenes,  prince  of  them  all,  stands  forth  as  the 
champion  of  Grecian  liberty,  and  thunders  his  Philippics  at  the 
wily  Macedonian  who  would  enthrall  his  country.  But  the 
star  of  Macedon  was  in  the  ascendant.  Chaerone'a  decided 
the  fate  of  Greece  ;  and  she  who  had  withstood  the  legions 
of  Xerxes,  gave  way  before  the  invincible  phalanx  of  Philip 
and  Alexander. 

A  sad  period  of  decadence  followed.  Alexandria,  in  Egypt, 
founded  by  the  conqueror  whose  name  it  bore  (332  B.C.),  be- 
came the  centre  of  learning  as  well  as  commerce  ;  and  Athens 


GENERAL   VIEW    OF   ANCIENT   LITERATURE.  29 

yielded  to  her  fate,  wasting  her  time  in  empty  philosophical 
discussions  and  the  pursuit  of  pleasure.  Poetry  languished, 
yet  flashed  out  occasionally  in  epic  or  didactic  form,  bringing 
to  mind  the  glories  of  the  past.  It  is  true  that  in  the  idyls  of 
Theocritus  (little  pictures  of  domestic  life)  pastoral  verse  now 
bloomed  for  the  first  time  on  European  soil,  and  with  fine  ef- 
fect;  but  it  was  in  far-off  Syracuse,  not  in  classic  Greece. 
Here  the  deepening  twilight  was  fatal  to  literary  growth ;  and 
when  Egypt  fell  beneath  the  power  of  Rome  in  the  first  cen- 
tury B.C.,  Greek  letters  sought  a  new  asylum  in  the  city  of 
Romulus. 

Turning  to  Rome,  we  find  that  she  had  long  displayed  an 
appreciation  of  Grecian  genius  as  well  as  a  striking  talent  for 
imitation.  About  the  middle  of  the  third  century  B.C.,  with 
little  or  no  literature  of  her  own,  she  gladly  appropriated  the 
foreign  treasures  held  up  before  her  admiring  eyes  by  Liv'ius 
Androni'cus,  a  Tarentine  Greek,  whom  the  fortunes  of  war  had 
made  the  slave  of  a  Roman  master.  This  most  ancient  of 
Latin  poets  put  upon  the  stage  versions  of  the  Greek  dramas, 
and  with  his  translation  of  the  Odyssey  took  his  captors  cap- 
tive. Naevius  and  Ennius,  following  in  the  path  thus  opened, 
gave  Italy  its  first  epics  ;  Ter'ence  and  Plautus  made  the  peo- 
ple familiar  with  the  humors  of  comedy ;  and  Cato  imparted 
dignity  to  Latin  prose. 

Oratory,  for  which  the  Romans  had  a  natural  aptitude,  cul- 
minated in  the  speeches  of  Cicero,  who  ushered  in  the  golden 
age.  In  his  writings,  as  well  as  in  the  histories  of  Caesar, 
Sallust,  and  Livy,  prose  now  attracted  with  its  finished  periods. 
Nor  was  poetry  less  notably  represented.  Catullus,  vehement 
and  pathetic  by  turns,  transplanted  the  ode  and  epigram  to 
Italy ;  Lucre'tius  threw  into  verse  his  ideal  of  philosophy ; 
Tibullus  excelled  in  simplicity  and  tenderness ;  while  Virgil 
and  Horace  rivalled,  as  they  doubtless  imitated,  the  first  poets 

of  Greece. 

B 


30  INTRODUCTION. 

Virgil's  epic,  the  ^Ene'id,  as  remarkable  for  beauty  as  Ho- 
mer's is  for  grandeur,  secured  to  its  author  the  first  place 
among  Latin  poets  ;  and  next  to  him  stands  Horace,  with  his 
faultless  mastery  of  metre  and  keen  observation  of  men  and 
manners.  Their  genius  shed  on  the  court  of  the  first  empe- 
ror, Augustus,  a  peculiar  lustre,  still  recognized  in  our  appli- 
cation of  the  epithet  Augustan  to  the  most  brilliant  period  of 
a  nation's  literature. 

It  is  not  strange  that  under  the  tyranny  of  the  Cassars  liter- 
ary decay  set  in ;  yet  Rome's  silver  age  was  kept  bright  by 
the  labors  of  Persius  and  Juvenal,  the  unsparing  satirists ; 
Lucan,  author  of  the  epic  Pharsalia;  the  grave  and  accu- 
rate historian  Tacitus;  the  two  Plinies ;  and  Quintilian,  the 
rhetorician.  Taste,  however,  had  sadly  deteriorated  ;  genius 
died  with  patriotism ;  and  despots  sought  in  vain  to  restore 
for  their  own  corrupt  purposes  the  ancient  spirit  which  they 
had  crushed  out.  At  length  the  degenerate  Latin  writers  laid 
aside  their  own  manly  tongue  for  Greek ;  and  the  list  of  the 
monuments  of  Roman  genius  was  complete. 

Such  has  been,  in  general,  the  course  of  every  literature. 
We  trace  successively  the  birth  of  poetry ;  the  gradual  per- 
fecting of  prose;  the  ripening  of  simplicity  into  elegance; 
the  perversion  of  elegance  into  affectation  ;  the  language  and 
literature,  losing  the  vigor  of  manhood,  affected  with  the 
feebleness  of  age,  and  either  succumbing  at  once  to  some 
great  civil  convulsion  or  perishing  by  a  slow  but  no  less 
certain  living  death.  As  with  political,  so  with  literary 
history : — 

"  This  is  the  moral  of  all  human  tales ; 

'Tis  but  the  same  rehearsal  of  the  past, — 
First  freedom,  and  then  glory ;  when  that  fails, 

Wealth,  vice,  corruption,  barbarism  at  last; 
And  History,  with  all  its  volumes  vast, 
Hath  but  one  page." 
BYRON. 


PART   I. 
ANCIENT  ORIENTAL  LITERATURES. 


CHAPTER  I. 
HINDOO   LITERATURE. 

THE    SANSCRIT   LANGUAGE. 

Characteristics. — Oldest  of  all  the  Indo-European  tongues, 
and  most  closely  resembling  the  common  parent  that  is  lost, 
is  SANSCRIT — the  language  spoken  by  those  fair-skinned  Ary- 
ans who  more  than  thirty  centuries  ago,  swarming  through  the 
Hindoo  Koosh  passes,  made  the  sunny  plains  of  Hindostan 
their  own  (page  16).  Sanscrit  spread  over  most  of  the  penin- 
sula ;  and  the  meaning  of  the  word,  perfected,  is  significant  of 
the  flexibility,  refinement,  regularity,  and  philosophical  system 
of  grammar,  by  which  the  language  was  distinguished.  In 
luxuriance  of  inflection  it  was  unequalled.  Its  nouns  were 
varied  according  to  eight  cases,  and  three  numbers  (singular, 
dual,  and  plural) ;  and  its  verbs,  which  assumed  causal,  desid- 
erative,  and  frequentative  forms,  were  carried  in  conjugation 
through  three  voices,  the  active,  middle,  and  passive.  Its 
chief  fault — a  result  of  its  very  richness — lay  in  the  frequent 
use  of  long  compounds,  particularly  adjectives,  presenting  what 
seems  to  us  a  confused  combination  of  ideas,  sometimes  ludi- 
crously lengthened  out ;  as  in  the  expressions,  "  always-to-be- 
remembered-with-reverence  patriot,"  " water-play-delighted- 


32 


SANSCRIT   L1TEEATUEE. 


maiden-bathing-fragrant  river-breezes"  (that  is,  river-breezes 
made  fragrant  by  the  bathing  of  maidens  delighted  with  sporting 
in  the  water). 

Neither  the  parallelism  of  Hebrew  poetry  (page  89)  nor  the 
rhyme  of  modern  times  finds  a  place  in  Sanscrit  verse ;  it  is 
distinguished  from  prose,  like  Greek  poetry,  simply  by  a  met- 
rical arrangement  of  long  and  short  syllables.  The  measured 
cadence  gave  great  delight  to  the  cultivated  ear  of  the  Hin- 
doos. "There  are  two 
1 


excellent  things  in  the 
world,"  says  one  of  their 
writers  —  "the  friendship 
of  the  good,  and  the  beau- 
ties of  poetry." 

Sanscrit  is  now  a  dead 
language.  About  three 
hundred  years  before  the 
Christian  era,  dialects  de- 
rived from  it  took  its  place 
among  the  people,  and  it 
has  since  been  kept  alive 
only  in  the  conversation 
and  writings  of  the  learn- 
ed, as  the  sacred  language 
of  the  Brahmans,  or  priest- 
ly caste.*  Yet  so  exten- 
sive is  its  literature  that  it  costs  a  Brahman  half  his  life  to 
master  a  portion  of  its  sacred  books  alone. 

Sanscrit  Alphabet. — As  to  the  origin  of  the  Sanscrit  alpha- 
bet, consisting  of  fifty  letters,  history  is  silent.  It  is  believed 
that  the  entire  early  literature  was  preserved  for  centuries  by 


BUAII.MAX  Pnir.sT. 


*  The  language  of  the  Gypsies,  descendants  of  those  Hindoos  who  fled  from 
the  persecutions  of  Tamerlane,  is  a  corrupted  Sanscrit. 


EARLY   RESEARCHES.  33 

oral  repetition.  When  their  polished  tongue  was  first  ex- 
pressed in  written  characters — derived  directly  or  indirectly 
from  the  Phoenicians — so  perfectly  did  these  answer  the  pur- 
pose that  the  Hindoos  styled  their  alphabet  "  the  writing  of 
the  gods."  The  Sanscrit  letters  are  still  preserved  in  the 
written  language  of  the  pure  Hindoos,  but  in  that  of  the  Mo- 
hammedan population  have  been  replaced  with  the  Arabic 
characters. 

History  of  Sanscrit  Researches. — Arabian  translations  of 
Sanscrit  works  were  made  as  early  as  the  reign  of  the  Caliph 
Haroun'-al-Raschid,  at  Bagdad  (800  A.D.),  and  appeared  from 
time  to  time  in  the  succeeding  centuries.  Europeans  first 
knew  of  the  existence  of  Sanscrit  and  its  literature  during  the 
reign  of  Au'rungzebe  (1658-1707),  in  whose  time  the  French 
and  English  obtained  a  foothold  in  Hindostan.  Before  this, 
the  Jesuit  Nobili  (ndbe-le)  had  gone  to  India  to  study  the  sa- 
cred books  with  a  view  to  the  conversion  of  the  Hindoos,  and, 
having  mastered  them,  boldly  preached  a  new  Veda;  but  he 
died  on  the  scene  of  his  labors,  and  Europe  profited  nothing 
by  his  researches.  It  was  left  for  the  Asiatic  Society,  organ- 
ized at  Calcutta  in  1784  by  Sir  William  Jones,  to  open  the 
eyes  of  Europe  to  the  importance  and  magnitude  of  Brahman 
literature,  of  which  the  translation  of  Sakoon'tala  (page  50)  by 
this  great  orientalist  gave  a  most  favorable  specimen. 

Following  in  the  footsteps  of  the  English  scholar  just  men- 
tioned, the  German  critic  Schlegel,  in  his  "  Language  and  Wis- 
dom of  the  Indians  "  (1808)  laid  the  permanent  foundations  of 
COMPARATIVE  PHILOLOGY,  a  science  of  recent  birth  but  one 
that  has  been  of  incalculable  service  to  history,  establishing 
the  kinship  of  the  Hindoos  and  Persians  with  the  old  Greeks 
and  Romans,  as  well  as  the  modern  nations  of  the  west,  by 
striking  resemblances  in  their  respective  tongues.  Eminent 
scholars  have  since  prosecuted  the  work  with  enthusiasm — 
especially  Bopp,  Humboldt,  Pott,  and  Grimm  among  the  Ger- 


34  SANSCRIT   LITERATURE. 

mans,  the  French  savant  Bournouf,  Max  Miiller  in  England, 
and  the  American  Whitney.  Sanscrit  is  no  longer  a  sealed 
volume.  The  leading  European  universities  have  their  pro- 
fessors of  that  tongue,  who  lecture  also  on  comparative  gram- 
mar and  the  science  of  language. 

SACKED   LITERATURE    OF   THE    HINDOOS. 

The  Veda. — The  language  of  the  ancient  Indo-Aryans  sur- 
vives in  the  Ve'da,  the  oldest  work  of  Indo-European  litera- 
ture, dating  back  to  the  prehistoric  era  of  the  Aryan  race. 
The  Veda,  while  rich  in  striking  imagery,  is  marked  by  a 
beautiful  simplicity  of  diction.  In  its  language,  we  behold  the 
most  ancient  form  of  our  own  tongue ;  in  the  hymns  of  its 
poets,  those  germs  of  Aryan  intellectual  development  that  no 
long  time  after  bloomed  in  epic  and  idyl  through  the  fertile 
valleys  of  India,  bore  immortal  fruit  on  the  soil  of  Greece  and 
Rome,  and  have  been  brought  to  perfection  in  the  grand  pro- 
ductions of  modern  genius.  The  Veda  is  the  first  of  thousands 
of  Indian  works  ;  for  Hindoo  thought,  undisturbed  by  Assyrian, 
Egyptian,  or  Macedonian  conqueror,  flowed  on,  ever  creative, 
and  still  flows,  an  uninterrupted  stream  from  the  day  of  the 
Veda  to  the  present. 

The  word  Veda  means  knowledge.  Though  there  is  really 
but  one — the  Rig-Veda,  or  Veda  of  songs  of  praise — the  name 
is  applied  also  to  three  other  collections  of  hymns.  These  are 
the  Vedas  of  Chants,  Sacrificial  Rites,  and  Incantations ;  for 
the  Hindoos  were  believers  in  the  efficacy  of  sacrifices,  some 
of  which  were  prolonged  for  months  and  even  years,  as  well 
as  of  talismans,  charms,  and  incantations  to  ward  off  disease, 
bring  riches,  and  inspire  love.  Each  of  the  last-named  Vedas 
is  a  medley  of  extracts  from  the  Rig -Veda,  transposed  or  com- 
bined into  new  hymns,  with  additions  from  outside  sources. 

To  the  metrical  parts  of  the  Vedas  are  attached  the  Brah- 
manas,  which  abound  in  tedious  descriptions  of  rites,  and 


THE    VEDA.  35 

were  written  long  after  in  prose  to  explain  the  hymns.  There 
are  also  collections  of  rules  for  worship  and  sacrifice  ;  and 
speculations  on  philosophy  and  religion,  which  display  no 
little  acuteness,  for  the  Hindoo  mind  seems  to  have  been 
prone  to  metaphysical  investigation  and  ingenious  in  reason- 
ing even  to  the  verge  of  sophistry.  Supplements  to  the 
Vedas  contain  abundant  commentaries  on  their  grammar  and 
language,  as  well  as  astronomical  facts  —  the  latter  mainly 
borrowed  from  other  nations  and  not  based  on  original  re- 
searches or  discoveries. 

Finally,  the  Upave'das  (po-pa-va! daz — appended)  treat  of  dis- 
eases and  their  cure,  devotional  music,  the  use  of  weapons, 
and  the  arts  ;  while  the  Puranas  (poo-raft naz\  of  more  recent 
birth,  believed  to  have  been  revealed  from  heaven  like  the 
Vedas,  present  in  verse  the  mythology  of  India  and  the  his- 
tory of  its  legendary  age. 

Religion  of  the  Veda. — The  Supreme  Being  first  acknowl- 
edged by  the  Aryans  was  gradually  lost  sight  of,  and  a  worship 
of  Nature  arose.  In  the  1,028  hymns  of  the  Rig-Veda,  "thrice 
eleven  "  gods  are  invoked  as  intelligent  beings,  the  principal 
of  whom  are  Varuna  (vur'oo-nah — god  of  waters),  the  sun,  the 
moon,  the  day,  fire,  storms,  the  dawn,  and  the  earth  ;  and  to 
"  the  three  and  thirty,"  offerings  were  made  of  butter,  cakes, 
wine,  and  grain.  They  were  immortal ;  clothed  with  power 
to  answer  prayer,  and  punish  those  who  offended  them.  But 
as  each  great  god  is  recognized  as  supreme  in  different  hymns, 
it  is  with  good  reason  thought  that  under  various  names, 
one  great  omnipotent  Being  is  worshipped,  called  in  the  Veda 
"  God  above  all  gods,"  "  that  One  alone  who  has  upheld  the 
spheres."  "Wise  poets,"  says  the  Rig -Veda,  "make  the 
Beautiful-winged,  though  he  is  one,  manifold  by  words."* 


*  "  He  is  the  only  master  of  the  world ;  he  fills  heaven  and  earth.  He  gives 
life  and  strength :  all  the  other  gods  seek  for  his  blessing ;  death  and  immor- 
tality are  but  his  shadow. 


36  SANSCRIT   LITERATURE. 

In  the  following  hymn  to  Varuna  is  apparent  the  belief 
that  evil-doing  is  hateful  to  the  Almighty,  that  man  is  by 
nature  prone  to  sin,  and  that  God  stands  ready  to  exercise 
forgiveness. 

HYMN  TO  VARUNA. 

(We  have  given  Max  Midler's  literal  translation  a  dress  of  verse,  the 
better  to  bring  out  the  effect  of  the  refrain.) 

O  Varuna,  let  me  not  yet  enter  the  house  of  clay : 

Mercy,  Almighty  one,  thy  mercy  I  pray  ! 
If,  like  a  cloud  the  sport  of  winds,  I  trembling  go  astray — 

Mercy,  Almighty  one,  thy  mercy  I  pray ! 

Through  want  of  strength,  thou  strong  bright  God,  I've  wandered 
from  the  way : 

Mercy,  Almighty  one,  thy  mercy  I  pray  ! 
Thirst  comes  upon  the  worshipper,  though  round  the  waters  play : 

Mercy,  Almighty  one,  thy  mercy  I  pray ! 
When  we  do  wrong  through  thoughtlessness,  thy  hand  of  vengeance 

stay: 
Transgressors  of  thy  righteous  law,  thy  mercy,  God,  we  pray ! 

But  of  all  the  conceptions  of  the  Vedic  writers,  that  of  the 
Dawn  Goddess  was  the  most  poetical.  Watching  for  the 
first  flush  in  the  eastern  sky,  her  ancient  worshippers,  with 
their  hands  devoutly  placed  upon  their  foreheads,  opened 
their  hearts  in  strains  of  praise  to  the  gloom  -  dispelling 
Dawn,  the  golden-hued  Daughter  of  Heaven,  leading  on  the 
sun  with  her  modest  smile, "like  a  radiant  bride  adorned  by 
her  mother  for  the  bridegroom." 

The  sun  is  represented  as  a  glorious  prince,  hastening  after 
the  Dawn-maiden  and  trying  to  discover  her  by  a  tiny  slipper 
which  she  has  dropped,  and  which  is  too  small  for  another  to 
wear ;  but  the  prince  never  overtakes  the  flying  maid.  This 
beautiful  myth  is  the  origin  of  the  tale  of  Cinderella. 

The  mountains  covered  with  frost,  the  ocean  with  its  waves,  the  vast  regions 
of  heaven,  proclaim  his  power. 

By  him  the  heaven  and  earth,  space  and  the  firmament,  have  been  solidly 
founded  :  he  spread  abroad  the  light  in  the  atmosphere. 

Heaven  and  earth  tremble  for  fear  before  him.  He  is  God  above  all  gods !" 

RIG  -VEDA. 


THE    VEDIC   PEOPLE.  37 

The  Veda  contains  no  allusions  to  those  corrupt  practices 
which  afterward  became  the  distinguishing  marks  of  Brah- 
manism.  At  this  early  period  there  was  no  belief  in  the 
transmigration  of  the  souls  of  men  into  inferior  animals  ;  on 
the  contrary,  the  Vedic  Aryans  looked  for  "excellent  treas- 
ures in  the  sky."  To  caste,  they  were  also  strangers  ;  idols 
were  unknown  ;  and  suttee,  the  burning  of  the  widow  at 
her  husband's  funeral,  was  an  unheard-of  barbarity. 

Social  Life  of  the  Vedic  People. — The  hymns  of  the  Rig- 
Veda  picture  the  manners  and  customs  of  an  intellectual 
people,  far  advanced  in  the  arts.  Princely  palaces  are  de- 
scribed, fortified  cities,  monarchs  possessed  of  fabulous  riches, 
ladies  elegantly  attired.  There  were  poor  as  well  as  rich, 
workers  in  the  various  handicrafts  ;  ship-building  was  prac- 
tised, and  naval  expeditions  were  undertaken.  Even  at  this 
remote  day  literary  meetings  were  held. 

Nor  were  the  crimes  and  vices  of  later  times  unknown. 
Liars  are  denounced;  thieves, robbers, and  intoxicating  drinks, 
are  mentioned  ;  while  in  one  hymn,  a  gambler  laments  his 
ruin  by  "  the  tumbling  dice,"  and  warns  others  not  to  play, 
but  rather  to  practise  husbandry.  Battles  are  sung,  and  wav- 
ing banners,  and  chariots  drawn  by  fleet  horses. 

The  following  extract  from  one  of  the  secular  hymns  which 
are  interspersed  with  those  of  a  religious  character,  shows 
some  knowledge  of  human  nature  : — 

EVERY  ONE  TO   HIS  TASTE. 

"Men's  tastes  and  trades  are  multifarious, 
And  so  their  ends  and  aims  are  various. 
The  smith  seeks  something  cracked  to  mend ; 
The  doctor  would  have  sick  to  tend. 
The  priest  desires  a  devotee 
From  whom  he  may  extract  his  fee. 
Each  craftsman,  makes  and  vends  his  ware, 
And  hopes  the  rich  man's  gold  to  share. 
My  sire's  a  doctor  ;  I,  a  bard ; 
Corn  grinds  my  mother,  toiling  hard. 
B  2 


38  SANSCRIT   LITERATURE. 

All  craving  wealth,  we  eacli  pursue, 

By  dift'ereut  means,  the  end  in  view, 

Like  people  running  after  COAVS, 

AVhich  too  i'ar  off  nave  strayed  to  browse 

The  draught-horse  seeks  an  easy  yoke, 

The  merry  dearly  like  a  joke, 

Of  lovers  youthful  belles  are  fond, 

And  thirsty  frogs  desire  a  pond." — Mum. 

LAW-BOOKS    OF   THE    HINDOOS. 

Code  of  Manu. — Of  the  many  Indian  treatises  on  the  moral 
law  still  extant,  the  most  ancient  and  important  is  the  Insti- 
tutes of  Manu  (inurioo) — the  time-hallowed  monument  of  a 
period  just  subsequent  to  the  Vedic  age  (variously  placed  at 
from  1280  to  880  B.C.).  This  code  is  written  in  verse,  as 
were  most  Hindoo  works,  even  scientific  expositions.  Four 
distinct  castes  are  now  recognized,  ascending  through  the  suc- 
cessive grades  of  laborers,  farmers,  warriors,  and  princes,  to  the 
highest,  which  consisted  of  the  priests  of  Brahma,  "  the  soul 
of  the  universe,  whom  eye,  tongue,  mind,  cannot  reach,"  from 
whose  substance  all  men  proceed  and  to  whom  all  must  re- 
turn through  various  states  of  existence.  The  childlike  relig- 
ion of  the  Veda  has  disappeared. 

The  word  brahma  often  occurs  in  the  Vedas  with  the  signi- 
fication of  worship,  or  hymn,  the  vehicle  of  worship.  In  the 
later  Vedic  poems  it  came  to  mean  an  object  of  worship,  the 
universal  but  impersonal  spiritual  principle,  all-pervading  and 
self-existent.  In  Manu's  Code,  Brahma  is  endowed  with  per- 
sonality, and  a  definite  place  is  for  the  first  time  assigned 
him  in  the  national  religious  system,  as  the  creative  spirit  who 
made  the  universe  before  undiscerned  discernible  in  the  be- 
ginning. He,  as  the  Creator,  is  united  with  the  three-eyed 
thousand-named  Siva  (sdvqJi)  the  Destroyer,  and  Vishnu  the 
Preserver,  in  the  Hindoo  triad.  Vishnu  was  the  first-begotten 
of  Brahma,  a  benevolent  being  who,  to  overcome  the  malig- 
nant agents  of  evil,  submitted  to  various  incarnations  or  em- 


CODE    OP   MANU.  39 

bodiments  in  human  or  animal  form, known  as  Avatars.  Nine 
avatars,  which  the  Hindoos  believed  to  have  taken  place,  were 
favorite  themes  of  Sanscrit  poetry ;  the  tenth,  still  future,  would 
result  in  the  overthrow  of  the  present  state  of  things  and  the 
ushering  in  of  a  new  and  better  era. 

Moral  Precepts.  —  The  Institutes  of  Manu  regulated  the 
moral  and  social  life  of  the  people,  prescribing  certain  rules 
for  the  government  of  society  and  the  punishment  of  crimes. 
Purity  of  life  was  enjoined  on  all.  One  of  the  chief  duties  was 
to  honor  father  and  mother — the  mother  a  thousand  times  the 
most — and  the  Brahman  more  than  either.  Widows  are  forbid- 
den to  remarry,  and  the  duties  of  a  wife  are  thus  described  : — 

"  The  wife  must  always  be  in  a  cheerful  temper,  devoting  herself 
to  the  good  management  of  the  household,  taking  great  care  of  the 
furniture,  and  keeping  down  all  expenses  with  a  frugal  hand.  The 
husband  to  whom  her  father  has  given  her,  she  must  obsequiously 
honor  while  he  lives  and  never  neglect  him  when  he  dies.  The  hus- 
band gives  bliss  continually  to  his  wife  here  below,  and  he  will  give 
her  happiness  in  the  next  world.  He  must  be  constantly  revered 
as  a  god  by  a  virtuous  wife,  even  if  he  does  not  observe  approved 
usages,  or  is  devoid  of  good  qualities.  A  faithful  wife,  who  wishes 
to  attain  heaven  and  dwell  there  with  her  husband,  must  never  do 
anything  unkind  toward  him,  whether  he  be  living  or  dead." 

The  following  was  the  punishment  for  killing  a  cow,  an  ani- 
mal treated  with  the  honors  due  to  a  deity  : — 

"  All  day  he  mnst  wait  on  a  herd  of  cows,  and  stand  quaffing  the 
dust  raised  by  their  hoofs. 

Free  from  passion,  he  must  stand  when  they  stand,  follow  when 
they  move,  lie  down  near  them  when  they  lie  down. 

By  thus  waiting  on  a  herd  for  three  months,  he  who  has  killed 
a  cow  atones  for  his  guilt." 

OTHER  EXTRACTS  FROM  MANU. 

"  Greatness  is  not  conferred  by  years  nor  by  gray  hairs,  by  wealth 
nor  powerful  kindred.  Whoever  has  read  the  Veda,  he  always  is  great. 

A  Brahman  beginning  or  ending  a  lecture  on  the  Veda  must  al- 
ways pronounce  to  himself  the  syllable  OM*;  for  unless  the  syllable 


*  The  mystical  name  formed  of  the  three  elements  A  U  M,  representing  the 
three  forms  of  the  deitv. 


40  SANSCRIT   LITERATURE. 

OM  precede  bis  learning  will  slip  away  from  him,  and  unless  it  fol- 
low nothing  will  be  long  retained. 

When  one  among  all  the  organs  sins,  by  that  single  failure  all 
knowledge  of  God  passes  away ;  as  the  water  flows  through  one  hole 
in  a  leathern  bottle. 

The  names  of  women  should  be  agreeable,  soft,  clear,  captivating 
the  fancy,  auspicious,  ending  in  long  vowels,  resembling  words  of 
benediction." 

EPIC  POETRY. 

Indian  literature  boasts  of  two  grand  epic  poems — gems  that 
would  shine  in  the  crown  of  a  Homer  or  a  Milton — ihe  Ra- 
mayana  (rah-mati ya-na — Adventures  of  Rama)  and  the  Ma- 
habharata  (ma-hati bati ra-ta  —  Great  War  of  Bharata),  "the 
Iliad  and  Odyssey  of  Sanscrit  poetry."  The  date  of  these 
epics  is  uncertain,  though  probably  later  than  that  of  Manu's 
Code.  Both  contain  ancient  Vedic  traditions,  but  mingled 
with  these  is  much  that  is  more  recent.  It  is  probable  that 
the  old  songs  and  stories  were  current  among  the  people 
ages  before  they  were  arrayed  in  their  present  dress  by  later 
poets,  who  gave  them  a  different  religious  coloring  to  suit  the 
Brahmanical  doctrines.  Their  language  is  an  improvement 
on  that  of  the  Veda  in  polish  and  softness ;  improvement 
would  naturally  result  from  oral  repetition. 

The  Ramayana,  by  the  poet  Valmiki  (vahl'me-ke\  relates  the 
achievements  of  Rama  (the  name  assumed  by  Vishnu  in  his 
seventh  avatar,  or  incarnation),  who  descended  to  earth  that 
he  might  destroy  a  demon-prince  in  Ceylon.  Rama  becomes 
the  first-born  of  the  monarch  of  Oude  and  heir-apparent  to  the 
throne,  marries  a  lovely  princess,  Sita  (se'tah],  whose  hand 
others  had  vainly  sought,  and  daily  increases  in  popularity. 
But  Rama's  mother  was  not  the  only  queen ;  a  younger  and 
more  beautiful  rival  prevails  on  the  old  king  to  appoint  her 
son  his  successor  instead  of  Rama,  and  to  banish  the  latter 
for  fourteen  years. 

Loyal  to  his  father,  though  he  might  have  seized  the  crown 
by  force,  as  his  mother  in  her  first  disappointment  bade  him 


EPIC    POETRY.  9  41 

do,  Rama  set  out  for  the  wilderness,  accompanied  by  his 
bride,  who  refused  to  remain  behind  in  the  luxurious  capital. 
Soon  after  his  father  died  of  grief;  whereupon  the  younger 
brother  rejected  the  crown,  and,  seeking  the  exile  in  the  jungle, 
saluted  him  as  king.  Rama,  however,  declined  the  honor, 
and,  proceeding  to  fulfil  his  mission,  slew  the  demon  and  con- 
quered Ceylon.  Then  with  his  faithful  wife  he  returned  to 
Oude,  to  reign  jointly  with  his  brother  and  usher  in  a  golden 
age. 

The  Ramayana,  in  this  fiction,  is  supposed  to  refer  to  the 
conquest  of  southern  India  and  Ceylon  by  the  Aryans.  It  so 
delighted  the  Hindoos  that  it  was  said,  "  He  who  sings  and 
hears  this  epic  continually  has  attained  to  the  highest  enjoy- 
ment, and  will  finally  be  equal  to  the  gods." 

FROM  THE  RAMAYANA. 

Sita,  informed  by  her  husband  of  his  banishment,  thus  ten- 
derly pleads  to  be  the  companion  of  his  exile  : — 

"I  will  not  be  a  charge  to  thee :  the  wood  will  give  me  roots, 
The  spring  will  yield  me  water,  ami  the  branch  provide  me  fruits. 
In  hermit's  humble  mantle  clad,  and  guarded  by  my  lord, 
I  long  to  wander  through  the  wood,  the  rivulet  to  ford, 
To  climb  the  rock,  and  gaze  upon  the  lake  that  looks  so  cool ; 
And  oh!  the  pleasant  bathing  in  the  clear  and  shaded  pool, 
With,  waters  freshly  running  from  the  sweet  perennial  springs, 
All  lovely  with  the  lotuses  and  wild  swans'  silver  wings. 
I  would  not  live  in  heaven  itself,  and  thou,  my  love,  away  ; 
A  thousand  years  with  thee,  my  love,  would  seem  one  blissful  day. 
Then  take  me  with  thee  to  the  wood,  nor  leave  me  here  alone : 
I  will  not  be  a  burthen  sore  to  thee,  mine  own !  mine  own !" 

But  Rama  seeks  to  dissuade  her : — 

"The  forest  life  has  fears  and  woes  too  many  to  be  told  : 
Thirst,  hunger,  burning  heat  by  day,  by  night  the  bitter  cold. 
Each  moment  on  some  deadly  thing  the  heedless  step  may  fall, 
Where  serpents  with  their  venomed  fangs  and  poisonous  scorpions 

crawl ; 

There  thro'  the  day  the  tiger  roams,  the  panther  and  the  boar, 
And  thro'  the  night  the  caverned  hills  echo  the  lion's  roar ; 
There  many  a  river  deep  and  wide  will  bar  thine  onward  way, 


42  SANSCRIT   LITEKATURE. 

Where  fearful  crocodiles  amid  the  foaming  waters  play. 
The  forest  paths,  my  Sitd  dear,  are  rough  aud  hard  to  pass, 
Tangled  "with  knotted  creeping  plants,  and  thorns,  and  matted 

grass. 
O'er  many  a  league  the  wild  woods  stretch,  and  savage  beasts 

abound ; 

No  fruit  or  flower  may  there  be  seen,  and  water  scarce  is  found ; 
No  bed  is  there  to  rest  the  limbs,  but  stretched  upon  a  heap 
Of  fallen  leaves  and  gathered  grass  the  homeless  wretch  must  sleep. 
No,  such  a  life  is  not  for  thee ;  cast  thou  the  thought  away ; 
Here  in  the  palace  of  the  king  in  peace  and  safety  stay. 
Though  far  away  from  thee  I  go,  and  thou  remainest  here, 
,  Still  shalt  thou  live  within  the  heart  to  which  thou  art  so  dear." 

Yet  Sita  still  refuses  to  be  parted  from  her  husband,  and 
with  tearful  eyes  exclaims  :— 

"And  death  to  me  were  sweeter  far,  with  thine  arms  round  me 

thrown, 

Than  life  in  thy  father's  palaces,  in  safety,  but  alone. 
The  wife's  eternal  duty  is,  as  holy  priests  declare, 
To  follow  where  her  husband  goes,  his  weal  and  woe  to  share ; 
And  for  the  true  and  loving  wife  remains  the  endless  bliss 
Of  sharing  all  this  life  with  him,  and  the  life  that  follows  this." 

But,  Rama  being  still  inexorable,  Sita  bursts  forth  in  anger, 
upbraids  him  for  his  cruelty  in  deserting  her,  and  finally,  over- 
come by  emotion,  falls  weeping  at  his  feet.  Then  Rama 
raises  her  in  his  arms,  and  pours  these  soothing  accents  in 
her  ear : — 

"  Oh !  what  is  heaven  without  thee,  love  ?     With  thee  I'll  live  and 

die; 

Never  will  Rama  stoop  to  fear,  though  Brahma's  self  come  nigh. 
Obedience  to  my  father's  will  now  sends  me  to  the  wood ; 
For  paramount  of  duties  this  is  counted  by  the  good. 
Only  to  try  thy  mind,  my  love,  thy  prayer  I  first  denied  : 
I  never  dreamed  that  aught  could  harm  the  lady  by  my  side ; 
But  yet  I  feared  to  suifer  thee,  so  delicate  and  fair, 
The  troubles  of  a  forest  life  and  all  its  woes  to  share. 
Now,  as  the  glory  of  his  life  the  saint  can  ne'er  resign, 
Thou  too,  devoted,  brave,  and  true,  shalt  follow  and  be  mine." 

GRIFFITH. 

As  a  favorable  specimen  of  the  florid  description  in  which 
Hindoo  imagination  excels,  we  quote  from  the  same  epic, 


EPIC    POETRY.  43 


THE  DESCENT  OF  THE  GANGES. 

"From  the  high  heaven  burst  Gauges  forth,  first  on  Siva's  lofty 

crown ; 
Headloug  then,  and  prone  to  earth,  thundering  rushed  the  cataract 

down . 
Swarms  of  bright-hued  fish  came  dashing ;  turtles,  dolphins,  in  their 

mirth, 

Fallen,  or  falling,  glanciug,  flashing,  to  the  many-gleaming  earth  ; 
And  all  the  host  of  heaven  came  down,  sprites  and  genii  in  amaze, 
And  each  forsook  his  heavenly  throne,  upon  that  glorious  scene  to 

gaze. 
On  cars,  like  high-towered  cities,  seen,  with  elephants  and  coursers 

rode, 

Or  on  soft-swinging  palanquin  lay  wondering,  each  observant  god. 
As  met  in  bright  divan  each  god,  and  flashed  their  jewelled  vestures' 

rays, 

The  coruscating  ether  glowed,  as  with  a  hundred  suns  ablaze. 
And  in  ten  thousand  sparkles  bright  went  flashing  up  the  cloudy 

spray, 
The  snowy-flocking  swans  less  white,  within  its  glittering  mists  at 

play. 
And  headlong  now  poured  down  the  flood,  and  now  in  silver  circlets 

wound ; 
Then  lake-like  spread,  all  bright  and  broad,  then  gently,  gently 

flowed  around ; 
Then  'neath  the  caverued  earth  descending,  then  spouted  up  the 

boiliug  tide ; 
Then  stream  with  stream,  harmonious  blending,  swell  bubbling  up 

or  smooth  subside. 
By  that  heaven-welling  water's  breast,  the  genii  and  the  sages 

stood ; 
Its  sanctifying  dews  they  blest,  and  plunged  within  the  lustral 

flood." — MILMAN. 

The  Mahabharata,  one  of  the  noblest  creations  of  the  Epic 
Muse,  is  a  colossal  poem  by  Vyasa  (ve-ah'sa),  containing  more 
than  200,000  lines,  and  relating  the  history  of  a  great  struggle 
between  two  branches  of  an  ancient  royal  family.  Jealousy 
led  to  the  separation  of  the  rival  parties,  one  of  which,  the 
Pandavas  (pahri da-vaz\  cleared  the  jungle  and  founded  the 
city  of  Delhi  (del'le).  But  their  enemies,  the  Kurus  (Kodrooz), 
resolving  to  dispossess  them,  challenged  the  Pandavas  to  a 
gambling  match;  the  latter  accepted,  but  were  cheated  out 


44  SANSCRIT   LITERATURE. 

of  all  their  possessions  by  the  use  of  loaded  dice,  and  driven 
into  the  wilderness.  A  savage  war  ensued,  resulting  in  the 
triumph  of  the  Pandavas,  and  their  elevation  over  the  neigh- 
boring rajahs. 

The  great  Hindoo  epics  are  both  enlivened  by  charming 
episodes.  The  most  beautiful  of  those  interwoven  in  the 
Mahabharata  are  called  "the  Five  Precious  Gems."  Of 
these,  the  magnificent  philosophical  poem  entitled  THE  DIVINE 
SONG  withdraws  the  reader  for  a  while  from  the  tumult  of 
war,  and  introduces  him  to  a  profound  theological  dialogue 
between  a  disguised  god  and  one  of  the  principal  combatants. 
It  inculcates  the  existence  of  one  Immutable,  Eternal  Being, 
and  teems  with  grand  thoughts  not  unlike  those  we  should 
expect  from  a  Christian  teacher.  The  immortality  of  the 
soul  is  thus  sublimely  set  forth  by  the  deity,  on  the  eve  of  a 
decisive  battle,  for  the  purpose  of  removing  the  scruples  of 
the  chief,  while  the  latter  humanely  hesitates  to  precipitate 
the  conflict  in  view  of  the  slaughter  that  would  ensue : — 

"Ne'er  was  the  time  •when  I  was  not,  nor  thou,  nor  yonder  kings  of 

earth : 

Hereafter,  ne'er  shall  be  the  time,  when  one  of  us  shall  cease  to  l>e. 
The  soul,  within  its  mortal  frame,  glides  on  thro'  childhood,  youth, 

and  age ; 

Then  in  another  form  renewed,  renews  its  stated  course  again. 
All  indestructible  is  He  that  spread  the  living  universe; 
And  who  is  he  that  shall  destroy  the  work  of  the  Indestructible? 
Corruptible  these  bodies  are  that  wrap  the  everlasting  soul — 
The  eternal,  unimaginable  soul.     Whence  011  to  battle,  Bharata! 
For  he  that  thinks  to  slay  the  soul,  or  he  that  thinks  the  soul  is 

slain, 

Are  fondly  both  alike  deceived :  it  is  not  slain — it  slayeth  not ; 
It  is  not  born — it  doth  not  die  ;  past,  present,  future  knows  it  not ; 
Ancient,  eternal,  and  unchanged,  it  dies  not  with  the  dying  frame. 
Who  knows  it  incorruptible,  and  everlasting,  and  unborn, 
What  heeds  ho  whether  he  may  slay,  or  fall  himself  in  battle  slain  ? 
As  their  old  garments  men  cast  off,  anon  new  raiment  to  assume, 
So  casts  the  soul  its  worn-out  frame,  and  takes  at  once  another  form. 
The  weapon  cannot  pierce  it  through,  nor  wastes  it  the  consuming 

fire ; 
The  liquid  waters  melt  it  not,  nor  dries  it  up  the  parching  wind : 


EPIC   POETRY.  45 

Impenetrable  and  unburned  ;  impermeable  and  undried ; 
Perpetual,  ever-wandering,  firm,  indissoluble,  permanent, 
Invisible,  unspeakable." — MILMAN. 

But  of  all  the  episodes,  that  of  Nala  (nul'a)  and  Damayanti 
is  unsurpassed  for  pathos  and  tenderness  of  sentiment.  King 
Nala,  enamored  of  the  "softly-smiling"  Damayanti,  "pearl 
among  women,"  finds  his  love  returned,  and  is  accepted  by 
her  in  preference  to  many  other  princes  and  even  four  of  the 
gods.  A  jealous  demon,  however,  possesses  him,  and  causes 
him  to  lose  at  play  everything  except  his  bride,  whom  he  can- 
not be  prevailed  upon  to  stake.  Yet  at  last,  in  his  madness, 
he  deserts  her  in  the  forest,  and  Damayanti,  after  many 
strange  adventures,  reaches  her  father's  court  in  safety. 
There  she  adopts  the  device  of  inviting  suitors  a  second  time 
to  propose  for  her  hand,  in  the  hope  of  bringing  her  lost  hus- 
band to  her  side  if  he  should  hear  that  there  was  danger  of 
his  losing  her  forever. 

Nala,  meanwhile,  disguised  as  a  charioteer,  had  entered 
the  service  of  another  king,  who  now  sets  forth  to  offer  him- 
self to  the  beauteous  princess,  driven  by  her  husband.  When 
they  arrive  Damayanti  penetrates  the  disguise  of  the  chari- 
oteer, and  to  prove  the  correctness  of  her  suspicions,  puts 
him  to  the  severest  test.  She  contrives  to  have  his  children 
brought  before  him.  The  father's  heart  is  touched  at  once ; 
he  clasps  them  in  his  arms,  and  bursts  into  tears. 

"  Soon  as  lie  young  Indrasena  and  her  little  brother  saw, 
Up  he  sprang,  his  arms  wound  round  them,  to  his  bosom  folding 

both. 

When  he  gazed  upon  the  children,  like  the  children  of  the  gods, 
All  his  heart  o'erflowed  with  pity,  and   unwilling   tears   brake 

forth." 

Not  wishing,  however,  to  reveal  himself  to  a  wife  whom  he 
thought  false,  he  added  by  way  of  apology  for  his  conduct, 

"  Oh !  so  like  my  own  twin  children  was  yon  lovely  infant  pair, 
Seeing  them  thus  unexpected,  have  I  broken  out  in  tears." 


46  SANSCEIT   LITERATURE. 

Finally  Nala  makes  himself  known  to  Damayanti,  and,  con- 
vinced of  her  faithfulness,  is  reunited  to  her  and  regains  his 
crown. 

Such  are  the  Indian  epics  and  their  episodes.  They  need 
but  a  skilful  hand  to  file  away  their  superfluities  and  reset 
their  choicest  gems  together  in  fitting  chaplets,  that  the  names 
of  their  authors,  Valmiki  and  Vyasa,  may  be  as  familiar  and 
as  highly  honored  as  those  of  Homer  and  Virgil. 

LYRIC   AND   DIDACTIC   POETRY. 

Kalidasa. — In  lyric  poetry,  embracing  idyls  and  amatory 
pieces,  Sanscrit  is  no  less  rich  than  in  epic,  whether  quanti- 
ty or  quality  be  considered.  Foremost  in  this  department  is 
Kalidasa  (kaJi  le-daJi  sa\  about  whose  life,  and  even  his  exact 
period,  nothing  is  certainly  known,  but  whose  works  have 
crowned  him  with  immortality.  He  is  the  author  of  many 
charming  verses  ;  and  his  poem,  "  the  Seasons,"  which  draws 
fascinating  pictures  of  the  luxuriant  landscapes  of  India,  dis- 
playing on  every  page  the  poet's  ardent  love  for  the  beauties 
of  nature,  has  the  honor  of  being  the  first  book  ever  printed 
in  Sanscrit. 

AUTUMN. 

FROM  KALIDASA'S  SEASONS. 

"  Welcome  Autumn,  lovely  bride, 
Full  of  beauty,  full  of  pride ! 
Hear  ber  anklets'  silver  ring  : 
'Tis  the  swans  that  round  her  sing. 
Mark  the  glory  of  her  face : 
'Tis  the  lotus  lends  its  grace. 
See  the  garb  around  her  thrown ; 
Look  and  wonder  at  her  zone. 
Robes  of  maize  her  limbs  enfold, 
Girt  with  rice  like  shining  gold. 
Streams  are  white  with  silver  wings 
Of  the  swans  that  autumn  brings. 
Lakes  are  sweet  with  opening  flowers ; 
Gardens,  gay  with  jasmine  bowers  ; 


EXTRACT   FROM   KALIDASA's   SEASONS.  47 

While  the  woods,  to  charm  the  sight, 
Show  their  bloom  of  purest  white. 
Vainly  might  the  fairest  try 
With  the  charms  around  to  vie. 
How  can  India's  graceful  daughter 
Match  that  swan  upon  the  water? 
Fair  her  arching  brow  above, 
Swimming  eyes  that  melt  with  love  : 
But  that  charming  brow  can  never 
Beat  that  ripple  on  the  river; 
And  those  eyes  must  still  confess 
Lilies'  rarer  loveliness. 
Perfect  are  those  rounded  arms, 
Aided  by  the  bracelets'  charms : 
Fairer  still  those  branches  are, 
And  those  creepers,  better  far, 
Ring  them  round  with  many  a  fold, 
Lovelier  than  gems  and  gold. 
Now  no  more  doth  Indra's  Bow 
In  the  evening  sunlight  glow, 
Nor  his  flag,  the  lightning's  glare, 
Flash  across  the  murky  air. 
Beauty  too  has  left  the  trees, 
Which  but  now  were  wont  to  please : 
Other  darlings  claim  her  care, 
And  she  pours  her  blossoms  there. 

Now  beneath  the  moonlight  sweet, 
Many  troops  of  maidens  meet. 
Many  a  pleasant  tale  they  tell 
Of  the  youths  that  love  them  well ; 
Of  the  word,  the  flush,  the  glance, 
The  kiss,  the  sigh,  the  dalliance. 

Not  a  youth  can  wander  when 
Jasmine  blossoms  scent  the  glen, 
While  the  notes  of  many  a  bird 
From  the  garden  shades  are  heard, 
But  his  melting  soul  must  feel 
Sweetest  longing  o'er  it  steal. 
Not  a  maid  can  brush  away 
Morning  dew-drops  from  the  spray, 
But  she  feels  a  sweet  unrest 
Wooingly  disturb  her  breast. 
As  the  breezes  fresh  and  cool 
From  the  lilies  on  the  pool, 
Sweet  with  all  the  fragrance  there, 
Play,  like  lovers,  with  her  hair." 

GKIFFITH, 


48  SANSCRIT   LITERATURE. 

Surpassing  "the  Seasons"  in  dignity  and  elegance,  "the 
Cloud  Messenger,"  by  the  same  author,  contains  some  fine 
flights  of  fancy.  It  tells  how  an  inferior  god,  banished  for 
twelve  months  to  a  sacred  forest  and  thus  separated  from  a 
wife  whom  he  fondly  loves,  commits  to  a  passing  cloud  a  mes- 
sage for  his  goddess.  He  directs  its  imaginary  journey  through 
the  sky,  over  forests  and  hills,  to  the  city  of  the  gods.  There 
it  will  easily  distinguish  his  wife,  whom  he  paints  to  the  cloud 
in  glowing  colors  as  the  "first,  best  work  of  the  Creator's 
hand,"  mourning  over  their  separation. 

"  And  sad  and  silent  shalt  thou  find  my  wife, 
Half  of  my  soul  and  partner  of  my  life ; 
Nipped  by  chill  sorrow,  as  the  flowers  enfold 
Their  shrinking  petals  from  the  withering  cold. 
I  view  her  now !     Long  weeping  swells  her  eyes, 
And  those  dear  lips  are  dried  by  parching  sighs. 
Sad  on  her  hand  her  pallid  cheek  declines, 
And  half  unseen  through  veiling  tresses  shines; 
As  when  a  darkling  night  the  inoon  enshrouds, 
A  few  faint  rays  break  straggling  through  the  clouds." 

He  then  intrusts  the  cloud  with  the  tender  words  that  he 
would  breathe ;  bids  it  tell  his  beloved  how  he  sees  her  in 
the  rippling  brooks,  how 

"  O'er  the  rude  stone  her  pictured  beauties  rise ;" 

and  finally  he  charges  his  messenger  to  console  her  afflicted 
heart  with  assurances  of  his  unabated  love,  and  to  hasten  back 
with  tidings  that  may  relieve  his  soul  of  its  anxiety.  The  cloud 
obeys ;  but  meanwhile  the  supreme  deity  learns  of  the  mes- 
sage, repents  of  his  severity,  restores  the  exile  to  his  wife,  and 
blesses  the  pair  with  ceaseless  joy. 

Kalidasa  also  wrote  three  epics  of  a  romantic  character, 
one  of  them  on  the  adventures  of  Nala  and  his  devoted  Da- 
rn ayanti.  Well  does  he  merit  the  title  conferred  on  him  by 
his  admiring  countrymen, — "the  Bridegroom  of  Poesy." 

Jayadeva  (jl-a-dava\  a  poet  probably  of  more  recent  times, 


LYKIC   POETRY.  49 

if  not  equal  to  Kalidasa,  yet  has  given  us  in  Gitagovinda  one 
of  the  most  enchanting  idyls  ever  written.  In  this  Song  of 
the  Shepherd  Govinda,  the  form  assumed  by  the  god  Krishna, 
are  set  forth  in  voluptuous  colors  the  adventures  of  the  deity 
and  nine  shepherdesses,  his  beautiful  attendants.  The  whole 
is  supposed  to  be  a  mystical  allegory. 

The  high  estimation  in  which  Jayadeva  is  held,  may  be  in- 
ferred from  the  following  eulogy  by  an  Oriental  critic :  "What- 
ever is  delightful  in  the  modes  of  music,  whatever  is  exquisite 
in  the  sweet  art  of  love,  whatever  is  graceful  in  the  strains  of 
poetry — all  that  let  the  happy  and  wise  learn  from  the  songs 
of  Jayadeva." 

Whittier  has  furnished  us  the  following  spirited  version  of  a 
Hindoo  lyric  by  a  poet  who  flourished  in  the  third  century  of 
our  era,  and  who,  if  we  may  judge  by  his  writings,  had  concep- 
tions of  God  and  duty  not  unworthy  of  a  Christian  bard. 

GIVING  AND  TAKING. 

"  Who  gives  and  hides  the  giving  hand, 
Nor  counts  on  favor,  fame,  or  praise, 
Shall  find  his  smallest  gift  outweighs 
The  burden  of  the  sea  and  laud. 

Who  gives  to  •whom  hath  naught  been  given, 
His  gift  in  need,  though  small  indeed, 
As  is  the  grass-blade's  wind-blown  seed, 

Is  large  as  earth,  and  rich  as  heaven. 

Forget  it  not,  O  man,  to  whom 

A  gift  shall  fall  while  yet  on  earth ; 

Yea,  even  to  thy  sevenfold  birth 
Recall  it  in  the  li ves  to  come. 

Who  dares  to  curse  the  hands  that  bless, 

Shall  know  of  sin  the  deadliest  cost ; 

The  patience  of  the  heaven  is  lost 
Beholding  man's  uuthaukfulness. 

For  he  who  breaks  all  laws  may  still 

In  Siva's  mercy  be  forgiven ; 

But  none  can  save,  in  earth  or  heaven, 
The  wretch  who  answers  good  with  ill." 


50  SANSCRIT  LITERATURE. 

THE    DRAMA. 

The  Sanscrit  Shakespeare. — Not  the  least  valuable  of  San- 
scrit treasures  is  its  dramatic  poetry.  Here,  as  in  lyric  verse, 
Kalidasa  stands  preeminent,  the  Shakespeare  of  India.  His 
title  to  this  distinction  rests  mainly  on  his  drama  of  Sakoon'- 
tala,  or  the  Lost  Ring,  which  portrays  the  simple  life  and  un- 
sophisticated manners  of  his  countrymen  with  all  his  charac- 
teristic tenderness  of  expression  and  rich  imagination. 

PLOT  OF  SAKOONTALA. — In  early  summer — the  fitting  season, 
sacred  as  it  was  to  the  god  of  love — the  play  of  Sakoontala  was 
wont  to  be  acted  in  ancient  India.  The  heroine,  whose  name 
the  drama  bears,  was  the  daughter  of  a  nymph,  and  dwelt  at  a 
hermitage  in  the  jungle.  Led  to  her  retreat  by  chance  in  his 
pursuit  of  a  deer,  a  neighboring  rajah  espies  the  "  slender- 
waisted"  forest  maid,  with  two  lovely  companions,  watering 
the  shrubbery.  Concealing  himself  among  the  trees,  he  plays 
eaves-dropper,  and  as  he  watches  the  trio  he  cannot  restrain 
his  admiration;  "the  woodland  plants,"  he  cries,  "outshine 
the  garden  flowers."  His  heart  is  lost  forthwith.  Ordering 
his  camp  to  be  pitched  near  by,  he  wooes  and  finally  weds 
Sakoontala,  with  the  assurance  that  she  shall  "reign  without 
a  rival  in  his  heart."  Then  leaving  his  bride  a  marriage-ring, 
engraved  with  his  name,  as  a  token  of  their  union,  the  rajah 
goes  back  to  his  palace,  promising  that  Sakoontala  shall  soon 
share  his  throne. 

"  Eepeat  each  clay  one  letter  of  the  name 
Engraven  on  this  gem ;  ere  thou  hast  reckoned 
The  tale  of  syllables,  my  minister 
Shall  come  to  lead  thee  to  thy  hushand's  palace." 

Not  long  after  his  departure,  a  sage  whose  anger  she  has 
incurred  pronounces  a  curse  upon  the  pair, — "  that  he  of  whom 
she  thought  should  think  of  her  no  more,"  should  even  forget 
her  image,  and  that  the  spell  should  cease  only  at  sight  of  the 


DRAMATIC   POETKY.  51 

marriage-ring.  This  token  of  remembrance,  however,  was  se- 
cured on  her  finger ;  and  at  length  Sakoontala,  re-assured  by 
a  favorable  omen,  leaves  the  sorrowing  companions  of  her  girl- 
hood, and  the  venerable  hermit,  her  reputed  father,  to  seek  her 
husband  in  his  capital. 

Arrived  in  safety,  she  gains  access  to  the  royal  presence ; 
but  the  king,  laboring  under  the  curse,  fails  to  recognize  her. 
Sakoontala  is  unveiled,  and  stands  before  him  in  all  her  beau- 
ty— a  beauty  that  stirs  him  to  exclaim  : — 

"  What  charms  arc  here  revealed  before  mine  eyes! 
Truly  no  blemish  mars  the  symmetry 
Of  that  fair  form ;  yet  can  I  ne'er  believe 
She  is  my  wedded  wife ;  and  like  a  bee 
That  circles  round  the  flower  whose  nectared  cup 
Teems  with  the  dew  of  morning,  I  must  pause 
Ere  eagerly  I  taste  the  proffered  sweetness." 

Then  Sakoontala  seeks  her  ring,  but  alas !  it  is  not  on  her 
finger ;  she  must  have  dropped  it  in  the  Ganges.  In  the  midst 
of  her  confusion  a  nymph  appears,  and  carries  her  off  to  a  sa- 
cred retreat,  where  she  gives  birth  to  a  son. 

Meanwhile  a  fish  is  caught,  in  which  is  found  the  fatal  ring, 
stamped  with  the  rajah's  name.  It  is  restored  to  its  owner, 
and  at  once  the  recollection  of  his  long-forgotten  Sakoontala 
flashes  upon  his  mind.  Overwhelmed  with  poignant  regret 
for  her  loss,  he  abandons  himself  to  melancholy  for  a  time, 
calling  on  her  beloved  name,  or  trying  to  beguile  his  grief  by 
tracing  with  his  pencil  her  features  now  but  too  well  remem- 
bered. At  length  ambition  and  piety  unite  to  wake  him  from 
his  lethargy.  He  embarks  in  a  campaign  against  the  giants, 
enemies  of  the  gods  ;  is  victorious ;  and  finds  the  consumma- 
tion of  happiness  at  last  in  a  union  with  his  long-lost  wife,  and 
with  his  son,  whose  name,  Bharata,  becomes  the  most  distin- 
guished in  the  mythology  of  India. 

English  readers  are  enabled  to  enjoy  the  beauties  of  Sa- 
koontala through  the  metrical  version  of  Prof.  Williams. 


52  SANSCRIT  LITERATURE. 

EXTRACTS  FEOM  SAKOONTALA. 
PARTING  WORDS  OF  THE  SAGE  TO  HIS  ADOPTED  DAUGHTER, 

"  This  day  my  loved  one  leaves  me,  and  my  heart 
Is  heavy  with  its  grief :  the  streams  of  sorrow, 
Choked  at  the  source,  repress  my  faltering  voice. 
I  have  no  words  to  speak ;  mine  eyes  are  dimmed 
By  the  dark  shadows  of  the  thoughts  that  rise 
Within  my  soul.     If  such  the  force  of  grief 
In  an  old  hermit  parted  from  his  nursling, 
What  anguish  must  the  stricken  parent  feel, 
Bereft  forever  of  an  only  daughter ! 

Weep  not,  my  daughter,  check  the  gathering  tear 
That  lurks  beneath  thine  eyelid,  ere  it  flow 
And  weaken  thy  resolve ;  be  firm  and  true — 
True  to  thyself  and  me ;  the  path  of  life 
Will  lead  o'er  hill  and  plain,  o'er  rough  and  smooth, 
And  all  imist  feel  the  steepness  of  the  way ; 
Tho'  rugged  be  thy  course,  press  boldly  on. 

Honor  thy  betters ;  ever  be  respectful 
To  those  above  thee.     Should  thy  wedded  lord 
Treat  thee  with  harshness,  thou  must  never  be 
Harsh  iu  return,  but  patient  and  submissive. 
Be  to  thy  menials  courteous,  and  to  all 
Placed  under  thee  considerate  and  kind : 
Be  never  self-indulgent,  but  avoid 
Excess  in  pleasure ;  and,  when  fortune  smiles, 
Be  not  puffed  up.     Thus  to  thy  husband's  house 
Wilt  thou  a  blessing  prove,  and  not  a  curse. 

How,  O  my  child!  shall  my  bereaved  heart 
Forget  its  bitterness,  when,  day  by  day, 
Full  in  my  sight  shall  grow  the  tender  plants 
Reared  by  thy  care,  or  sprung  from  hallowed  grain 
Which  thy  loved  hands  have  strewn  around  the  door—» 
A  frequent  offering  to  our  household  gods." 


THE  KING  AND  SAKOONTALi's  PORTRAIT. 

"  My  finger,  burning  with  the  glow  of  love, 
Has  left  its  impress  on  the  painted  tablet ; 
While  here  and  there,  alas !  a  scalding  tear 
Has  fallen  on  the  cheek  and  dimmed  its  brightness. 


SAKOONTALA.  53 

Go  fetch  the  brush  that  I  may  finish  it. 

A  sweet  Sirisha  blossom  should  be  twiued 

Behind  her  ear,  its  perfumed  crest  depending 

Toward  her  cheek  ;  and  resting  on  her  bosom, 

A  lotus-fibre  necklace,  soft  and  bright 

As  au  autumnal  mooubeam,  should  be  traced." 

While  gazing  on  the  picture,  the  king  in  his  infatuation  mis- 
takes for  reality  a  bee  which  he  has  himself  painted  in  the  act 
of  settling  on  the  rosy  lips  of  his  love,  and  after  attempting  to 
drive  it  off  is  apprised  of  his  error  by  an  attendant,  whom  he 
thus  addresses : — 

"  While  all  entranced  I  gazed  upon  her  picture, 
My  loved  one  seemed  to  live  before  my  eyes, 
Till  every  fibre  of  my  being  thrilled 
With  rapturous  emotion.     Oh !  'twas  cruel 
To  dissipate  the  day-dream,  and  transform 
The  blissful  vision  to  a  lifeless  image. 
Vain  is  the  hope  of  meeting  her  in  dreams, 
For  slumber,  night  by  night,  forsakes  my  couch. 
And  now  that  I  would  fain  assuage  my  grief 
By  gazing  on  her  portrait,  here  before  me, 
Tears  of  despairing  love  obscure  my  sight." 

MOXIER  WILLIAMS. 

Sakoontala  may  justly  be  called  the  pearl  of  Eastern  dra- 
matic poetry.  It  has  been  translated  into  every  European 
tongue,  and  has  elicited  the  admiration  of  all  civilized  nations. 
In  the  language  of  Goethe  : — 

"Would'st  thou  the  young  year's  blossom  and  the  fruits  of  its 

decline, 

And  all  by  which  the  soul  is  charmed,  enraptured,  feasted,  fed — 
Would'st  thou  the  earth  and  heaven  itself  in  one  sole  name  com- 
bine ? 
I  name  thee,  O  Sakoontala !  and  all  at  once  is  said." 

From  the  author  of  this  drama  we  have  two  other  pieces 
worthy  of  his  fame,  "  the  Hero  and  the  Nymph  "  and  a  pop- 
ular comedy.  His  era  was  the  golden  age  of  the  Hindoo 
theatre. 

Other  noted  plays,  a  few  out  of  many,  are  "  the  Toy  Cart," 
a  domestic  drama  with  a  public  underplot ;  "  the  Signet  of 


54  SANSCEIT  LITEEATUEE. 

the  Minister,"  which  had  a  political  bearing ;  "  the  Stolen 
Marriage ;"  and  an  allegorical  play,  "  the  Moonrise  of  Sci- 
ence." 

The  Hindoo  Drama,  the  invention  of  which  was  ascribed  to 
an  ancient  sage  inspired  by  Brahma  himself,  consisted  at 
first  of  music,  dancing,  and  pantomime.  An  outcome  of  the 
prevailing  mythology,  it  was  made  a  feature  of  the  Indian 
festivals,  and  from  very  early  rude  beginnings  of  which  we 
have  no  remains  gradually  progressed  to  the  perfection  with 
which  Kalidasa  invested  it.  Unfolding  the  inner  life  of  the 
people  and  illustrating  their  peculiar  institutions,  it  is  at  once 
interesting  and  valuable,  original,  and  in  its  delineations  of 
character  strikingly  true  to  nature.  Love  is  its  principal 
subject ;  and,  what  is  markedly  characteristic,  its  denoue- 
ments are  always  happy.  Tragedy  is  foreign  to  the  Hindoo 
stage. 

The  Indian  plays  began  and  closed  with  a  benediction  or 
prayer ;  in  many  cases  there  was  a  preliminary  account  of 
the  author,  or  a  colloquy  between  the  manager  and  one  of 
the  actors,  leading  the  way  to  the  play  itself.  The  heroes 
were  generally  kings  or  deities.  As  foils  to  these,  it  was 
usual  to  introduce  mountebanks  or  buffoons,  and  as  such 
Brahmans  were  made  to  figure.  The  Hindoo  dramatists  did 
not  hesitate  to  set  forth  their  priests  in  a  ridiculous  light ; 
a  remarkable  fact,  when  we  remember  that  the  drama  in  In- 
dia was  a  semi-religious  institution,  and  that  the  managers 
of  companies  were  usually  themselves  Brahmans.  The  play- 
wright who  in  Greece  should  have  taken  such  liberties  with 
his  religious  superiors  would  have  run  the  risk  of  being 
driven  from  the  stage,  if  indeed  he  were  not  more  seriously 
handled  by  an  indignant  audience. 

The  consistency  observed  in  managing  the  dialogue  is 
noteworthy.  The  parts  spoken  by  divinities  and  heroes, 
rulers  and  priests,  are  always  in  ancient  Sanscrit ;  while  the 


THE    HINDOO   DEAMA.  55 

inferior  personages  and  the  female  characters  use  the  later 
and  more  familiar  dialect.  Want  of  acquaintance  with  the 
sacred  language,  which  thus  formed  the  staple  of  the  classi- 
cal plays,  no  doubt  prevented  the  common  people  from  fully 
understanding  and  enjoying  dramatic  representations  ;  and 
hence  the  latter  never  attained  that  popularity  which  they 
had  in  other  countries.  They  were  the  entertainment  of  the 
cultured  class  rather  than  the  masses. 

Another  curious  feature  of  the  Hindoo  drama  was  the 
absence  of  scenery,  the  plays  being  mostly  represented  in 
the  open  air,  the  courts  of  palaces,  etc.  The  great  advan- 
tage which  the  modern  performer  derives  from  fine  scenic 
effects  was  entirely  wanting.  Changes  of  scene  could  be  in- 
dicated only  in  the  text,  by  minute  descriptions  of  the  new 
locality,  thrown  into  the  mouths  of  the  speakers  and  left  for 
the  audience  to  fill  out  and  remember.  No  shifting  of  scenes, 
for  instance,  as  with  us,  would  denote  the  entrance  of  one  of 
the  characters  from  out-doors  into  a  drawing-room  ;  but  the 
personage  entering,  either  in  a  soliloquy  or  in  colloquy  with 
some  other,  would  immediately  call  attention  to  every  little 
point — the  threshold,  the  floor,  the  ceiling,  the  walls,  the 
doors,  the  windows,  the  furniture — and  the  glowing  fancy  of 
his  hearers  would  at  once  picture  the  scene  as  vividly  as  if 
it  stood  before  them  in  reality. 

The  proprieties  were  strictly  observed.  To  represent  a 
death  scene  would  have  been  intolerable  ;  nor  only  so,  but 
in  the  earlier  and  purer  days  no  dramatist  would  introduce 
before  his  audience  a  scene  of  violence,  eating,  sleeping,  or 
the  performance  of  the  marriage  ceremony.  Even  kissing  on 
the  stage  was  repugnant  to  the  Hindoo  ideas  of  delicacy ;  so 
a  charming  love-scene  in  the  Sakoontala  breaks  off  just  at  the 
critical  moment  when  the  hero  and  heroine  are  about  to  inter- 
change a  token  of  affection. 

As  to  the  date  of  the  dramas  that  have  been  mentioned, 


56  SANSCRIT   LITERATURE. 

they  are  supposed  to  have  been  written  during  the  first  ten 
centuries  of  the  Christian  Era ;  but  here,  as  in  the  case  of 
the  epics  and  lyrics  that  preceded  them,  we  are  left  to  con- 
jecture. Could  we  know  more  certainly  what  times  they  re- 
flect, our  pleasure  in  perusing  them  would  be  complete. 

TALES   AND   FABLES. 

India  has  long  enjoyed  the  reputation,  and  not  without 
reason,  of  having  been  the  favorite  home  of  fairy-tale  and 
fable.  From  her  storehouse  of  fictions,  many  waifs  have 
crept  into  the  literatures  of  both  Europe  and  Asia,  and  strik- 
ing the  popular  taste  have  attained  wide  currency.  Tongues 
have  changed,  dynasties  have  fallen  ;  but  these  stories  by  un- 
known hands  still  live  in  the  nursery,  influencing  the  pliant 
minds  of  the  children  of  to-day  as  they  have  done  those  of 
the  last  twenty  centuries. 

The  Sanscrit  has  two  great  collections  of  fables, — the 
Pankatantra,  Five  Stories  (more  properly  Five  Sections] ;  and 
the  Hitopadesa,  Friendly  Advice,  a  compilation  from  the 
former  by  the  sage  Pilpay  (pil'pt).  The  latter,  translated 
into  many  languages,  has  almost  rivalled  in  circulation  the 
Bible  itself.  In  the  following  fable  from  "the  Friendly  Ad- 
vice" will  be  seen  the  germ  of  La  Fontaine's  charming  imi- 
tation, "the  Milkmaid  and  the  Pitcher  of  Milk;"  both  point 
the  same  moral  as  our  own  cautionary  proverb,  "Don't  count 
your  chickens  before  they  are  hatched." 

THE   STUPID  BKAHMAN. 

"In  the  town  of  Devikotta  there  lived  a  Brahman  of  the  name  of 
Devasarman.  At  the  feast  of  the  great  equinox  he  received  a  plate- 
ful of  rice.  He  took  it,  went  into  a  potter's  shop,  which  was  full  of 
crockery,  and,  overcome  by  the  heat,  he  lay  down  in  a  corner  and  be- 
gan to  doze.  In  order  to  protect  his  plate  of  rice,  he  kept  a  stick  in 
his  hand ;  and  he  began  to  think  :  '  Now  if  I  sell  this  plate  of  rice, 
I  shall  receive  ten  cowries.  I  shall  then,  on  the  spot,  buy  pots  and 
plates,  and  after  having  increased  my  capital  again  and  again  I  shall 


TALES,  HISTORY,  GRAMMAR.  57 

buy  and  sell  betel  nuts  and  dresses  till  I  grow  enormously  rich.  Then 
I  shall  marry  four  wives,  and  the  youngest  and  prettiest  of  the  four 
I  shall  make  a  great  pet  of.  Then  the  other  wives  will  be  so  angry 
and  begin  to  quarrel.  But  I  shall  be  in  a  great  rage,  and  take  a  stick, 
and  give  them  a  good  flogging.' 

While  he  said  this,  suiting  the  action  to  the  thought,  he  laid  about 
him  with  his  stick ;  the  plate  of  rice  was  smashed  to  pieces,  and 
many  of  the  pots  in  the  shop  were  broken.  The  potter,  hearing  the 
noise,  ran  in  ;  and  when  he  saw  his  pots  broken,  gave  the  Brahrnau 
a  good  scolding  and  drove  him  out  of  the  shop. 

Therefore  I  say,  '  He  who  rejoices  over  plans  for  the  future  will 
come  to  grief,  like  the  Brahman  who  broke  the  pots.' " — MAX  MULLER. 

Of  the  numerous  collections  of  tales  and  romances,  the  best 
known  is  "  the  Ocean  of  the  Rivers  of  Narratives,"  the  orig- 
inal of  that  more  familiar  compilation,  the  Arabian  Nights. 

HISTORY,  GRAMMAR,  ETC. 

Sanscrit  is  also  worthily  represented  in  other  departments 
of  literature  ;  on  the  fine  arts  we  have  nothing  worthy  of 
notice,  but  science  has  not  been  neglected,  while  historical, 
grammatical,  and  philosophical  works,  complete  the  category 
of  its  productions.  Its  chronicles,  however,  obscured  as  they 
are  by  myths  without  number,  are  comparatively  valueless  \ 
but  one  deserves  the  name  of  history,  the  Chronicle  of  Cash- 
mere, or  the  Stream  of  the  Kings,  extending  from  the  fabu- 
lous ages  to  the  reign  of  Akbar,  who  reduced  that  province 
in  the  i6th  century. 

But  in  grammar  we  must  certainly  award  to  Sanscrit  the 
very  first  place.  Commentaries  on  the  constructions  of  the 
Veda,  dating  from  750  B.C.,  embody  the  earliest  attempts  at 
grammatical  and  critical  investigation  with  which  we  are  ac- 
quainted;  and  in  the  digest  of  Panini  (pafine-ne}  (500  B.C.) 
we  have  the  first  systematic  grammar  that  the  world  ever  pro- 
duced— a  book  remarkable  for  its  completeness,  declared  by 
Max  Miiller  to  be  "  the  perfection  of  an  empirical  analysis  of 
language,  unsurpassed — nay,  even  unapproached,  by  anything 
in  the  grammatical  literature  of  other  nations." 


58 


BUDDHIST   LITERATURE. 


In  connection  with  the  literature  of  India,  we  may  also  men- 
tion inscriptions  on  monuments,  in  temples  and  grottoes,  and 
on  plates  of  marble  and  copper.  These  are  worthy  of  study 
mainly  in  view  of  the  historical  information  they  may  afford. 


BUDDHIST  LITERATURE. 

About  500  B.C.,  a  new  and  purer  religion  was  preached  in 

India  by  a  monk  of 
royal  birth,  afterward 
called  Buddha  ( the 
Enlightened}.  It  met 
with  a  hearty  recep- 
tion from  the  people, 
for  it  taught  men  to 
live  in  charity  with 
their  neighbors,  to  rev- 
erence their  parents, 
to  practise  truth  and 
morality;  above  all,  it 
overthrew  the  institu- 
tion of  caste,  and  abol- 
ished the  foolish  sys- 
tem of  Brahman  sacri- 
fices. The  riches  and 
fleeting  pleasures  of 
this  world,  Buddha 
proclaimed  unworthy 
of  pursuit,  represent- 

A  BUDDHIST  PBIEST.  Jng  jjfe  itself  as  a  bur- 

den, and  promising  his  followers  a  paradise  of  eternal  rest* 
beyond  the  grave.  No  wonder  that  thousands  declared  in 
favor  of  the  new  faith,  which  during  a  struggle  of  many  cen- 


*  Nirvana — according  to  gome  an  everlasting  slumber  of  thought,  or  total  anni- 
hilation.   The  literal  meaning  of  the  word  is  blowing  out,  as  of  a  light. 


TIIE    SACRED   BOOKS.  59 

turies  disputed  with  Brahmanism  for  the  supremacy  of  India. 
Pushing  out  to  the  northeast,  it  made  its  way  into  Thibet,  Chi- 
na, and  Japan  ;  and  at  the  present  day  has  more  followers  than 
any  other  religious  system,  their  number  being  estimated  at 
300,000,000. 

The  sacred  books  of  the  Buddhists  are  called  the  Tripitaka 
(three  baskets) ;  one  is  metaphysical,  another  disciplinary,  and 
the  third  contains  the  discourses  of  Buddha.  They  are  written 
in  a  dialect  of  Sanscrit,  and  are  made  up  of  nearly  600,000 
stanzas,  containing  five  times  as  much  matter  as  our  Bible. 

EXTRACTS  FKOM  THE  BUDDHIST  SCRIPTURES. 

"  The  succoring  of  mother  ami  father,  the  cherishing  of  child  and 
wife,  and  the  following  of  a  lawful  calling, — this  is  the  greatest 
blessing. 

The  giving  of  alms,  the  abstaining  from  sins,  the  eschewing  of  in- 
toxicating drink,  diligence  in  good  deeds,  reverence  and  humility, 
contentment  and  gratitude, — this  is  the  greatest  blessing. 

He  who  lives  for  pleasure  only,  his  senses  uncontrolled,  idle  and 
weak,  the  tempter  will  certainly  overcome  him  as  the  wind  throws 
down  a  weak  tree. 

Like  a  beautiful  flower,  full  of  color  but  without  scent,  are  the  fine 
but  fruitless  words  of  him  who  does  not  act  accordingly. 

As  the  bee  collects  nectar,  and  departs  without  injuring  the  flower, 
or  its  color  and  scent,  so  let  the  sage  dwell  on  earth. 

Let  no  man  think  lightly  of  evil,  saying  in  his  heart, '  It  will  not 
come  near  unto  me.'  Even  by  the  falling  of  water-drops  a  water-pot 
is  tilled ;  the  fool  becomes  full  of  evil,  even  if  he  gathers  it  little  by 
little. 

Let  us  live  happily  then,  though  we  call  nothing  our  own ;  not 
hating  those  who  hate  us,  free  from  greed  among  the  greedy.  We 
shall  then  be  like  the  bright  gods,  feeding  on  happiness." 


NOTES    ON    HINDOO    LITERATURE,   ETC. 

The  literature  of  India  incalculably  vast,  and  its  individual  works  voluminous. 
The  Mahabhiirata  six  times  as  long  as  the  Iliad,  Odyssey,  and  ^Eneid  united; 
the  Ramayana  half  this  size.  The  eighteen  Puranas  contain  1,600,000  lines. 
The  library  of  one  of  the  kings  said  to  have  numbered  so  many  books  that  a 
hundred  Brahmans  were  employed  in  taking  care  of  it,  and  a  thousand  drome- 
daries were  required  to  convey  it  from  place  to  place ;  twenty  years  were  con- 


CO  PERSIAN   LITEKATUEE. 

sumed  in  condensing  its  contents,  by  the  royal  command,  into  an  encyclopaedia 
of  12,000  volumes.  Sir  William  Jones  computed  that  the  longest  life  would  not 
suffice  for  the  perusal  of  all  the  Sanscrit  writings. — First  century  B.C.  believed 
to  have  been  an  Augustan  age  of  Indian  literature. 

Writing  apparently  unknown  to  the  ancient  Hindoos  before  the  time  of  Pani- 
nL  No  mention  anywhere  made,  in  the  early  works,  of  writing  materials,  pen 
or  brush,  paper,  bark,  or  skin.  The  Vedic  hymns  sung  or  repeated  probably  for 
a  thousand  years  before  they  were  committed  to  writing.  The  use  of  the  alpha- 
bet long  regarded  as  impious.  First  letters  appear  in  Buddhist  inscriptions  of 
the  3d  century  B.C.  Later  Indian  manuscripts,  beautifully  inscribed  on  palm 
leaves.  The  letters  of  the  Sanscrit  alphabet  thought  to  be  the  oldest  forms  of 
our  Arabic  figures,  which  came  originally  from  India,  as  did  also  our  decimal 
system. 

Chess  one  of  the  earliest  inventions  of  the  Hindoos — called  chess  (king)  from 
the  principal  piece.  The  Brahman  inventor,  so  the  story  goes,  asked  of  the 
reigning  emperor  as  his  reward,  a  single  grain  of  wheat  for  the  first  square  of  the 
chess-board,  two  for  the  second,  four  for  the  third,  and  so  on  to  the  sixty-fourth ; 
apparently  a  modest  price,  but  one  that  it  would  have  taken  yearc  to  pay  with 
the  wheat  crop  of  the  whole  world.  Elephants,  horses,  foot-soldiers,  and  chari- 
ots, the  original  chess-men.  From  India,  the  game  found  its  way  into  China, 
Japan,  and  Persia,  and  finally  into  Europe. — Throwing  dice,  also,  a  favorite  pas- 
time ;  the  "  Game  of  Four  Crowns,"  with  playing-cards,  early  known  to  the 
Hindoos. 

Square  copper  money  coined  in  the  3d  century  B.C.,  and  stamped  with  inscrip- 
tions in  a  Sanscrit  dialect. 


CHAPTER  II. 
PERSIAN    LITERATURE. 

Zend. — Sprung  from  the  same  ancient  Aryan  tongue  as  the 
Sanscrit  of  India,  and  distinguished  by  the  same  richness  of 
inflection,  is  Zend  (living),  the  earliest  language  of  Persia,  still 
preserved  to  us  in  the  Persian  Scriptures  known  as  the  Avesta. 
The  Veda  and  the  Avesta  have  been  described  as  "  two  rivers 
flowing  from  one  fountain-head;"  and  beyond  a  doubt  the 
Vedic  Aryans  and  the  Zend-speaking  Persians  were  originally 
one  community,  conversing  in  a  common  tongue. 

The  Avesta  was  first  made  known  to  Europeans  by  a  French 


ZOROASTER.  Cl 

orientalist,  Anquetil  Duperron  (pnsk-teeV  deu-pa-ron*'\  who 
went  to  India  for  the  express  purpose  of  discovering  the  sa- 
cred books  of  the  ParseeS.  With  great  difficulty  he  at  length 
possessed  himself  of  the  much-desired  Zend  manuscripts,  and 
in  1771,  after  long  and  patient  effort,  he  gave  his  countrymen 
the  first  translation  of  the  Avesta  into  a  European  tongue. 
The  language  has  since  been  carefully  studied,  but  cannot  be 
said  even  yet  to  have  been  mastered.  Time  wrought  many 
changes  in  it ;  the  Persian  of  Xerxes'  reign  differed  much 
more  from  the  Zend  of  antiquity  than  our  present  language 
does  from  the  English  of  Chaucer.  Further  modifications 
and  the  introduction  of  Arabic  elements  have  made  modern 
Persian  still  more  unlike  the  ancient  vernacular. 

The  sacred  writings  of  Persia  just  referred  to  are  among  the 
oldest  and  most  important  in  the  whole  range  of  Indo-Eu- 
ropean literature.  They  contain  the  doctrines  of  Zoroaster 
(golden  splendor),  the  Bactrian  sage  who  reformed  the  religious 
system  of  his  country. 

Zoroaster  is  believed  to  have  flourished  about  1500  B.C. 
Nothing  is  known  of  his  life  or  history.  Yet,  through  more 
than  thirty" centuries  his  influence  has  been  felt;  and  to-day, 
though  they  have  dwindled  to  perhaps  150.000  souls,  his  fol- 
lowers constitute  a  thrifty  and  intelligent  population  in  India 
and  Persia.  These  Parsees,  or  Fire-worshippers  (called  by 
the  Mohammedans  Guebres,  or  infidels),  still  burn  the  eternal 
fire,  kindled  as  they  believe  from  heaven,  not  for  idolatrous 
worship,  but  as  an  emblem  of  Ormazd,  the  Almighty  source 
of  light.  They  are  descendants  of  those  Zoroastrians  whom 
Darius  and  Xerxes,  having  stretched  their  empire  to  the  des- 
erts of  India,  launched  against  Europe  in  the  mightiest  armies 
ever  raised  by  man,  threatening  to  plant  their  purer  faith  amid 
the  ruined  shrines  of  Greece. 

At  a  later  date,  when  the  Caliph  Omar  converted  Persia  to 
Mohammedanism  with  the  sword  (641  A.D.),  their  forefathers 

C  2 


62  PERSIAN   LITERATURE. 

clung  to  the  ancient  faith,  and  found  an  asylum  across  the 
Indus  or  in  the  deserts  of  their  native  land. 

The  Avesta  (sacred  text)  contains  the  only  existing  monu- 
ments of  a  once  extensive  literature.  It  is  divided  into  dis- 
tinct parts,  made  up  of  separate  pieces  and  fragments,  which, 
repeated  orally  from  generation  to  generation,  were  probably 
collected  and  reduced  to  writing  in  their  present  form  ten  cen- 
turies after  the  period  of  Zoroaster  (500  B.C.).  The  compo- 
sitions in  question  are  chiefly  professed  revelations  and  in- 
structions to  mankind,  confessions,  prayers  to  the  Supreme 
Being  and  various  inferior  deities,  and  metrical  hymns  (Gd- 
i/ids),  simple  and  some  of  them  so  grand  as  to  be  deemed 
the  productions  of  Zoroaster  himself. 

Zoroaster  is  represented  in  the  Avesta  as  conversing  with 
Ormazd,  who,  in  answer  to  the  inquiries  of  the  sage,  reveals 
his  will,  and  prescribes  the  moral  and  ceremonial  law.  Thus, 
in  the  following  passage,  Zoroaster  questions  Ormazd  : — 

"  O  Ormazd,  most  holy  spirit,  creator  of  existent  worlds,  truth- 
loving!  What,  O  Ormazd,  was  the  Word  which  existed  before  the 
heaven,  before  the  water,  before  the  cow,  before  the  tree,  before  the 
fire,  before  the  truthful  man,  before  the  spirits  aud  animals,  before 
all  the  existent  universe  ?" 

Theu  Ormazd  replies :  "  I  will  tell  thee,  most  holy  Zoroaster,  what 
was  the  whole  of  the  Creative  Word.  It  existed  before  the  heaven, 
before  the  water,  before  the  cow,  before  the  tree,  before  the  fire,  be- 
fore the  truthful  man,  before  tho  spirits  and  animals,  before  all  the 
existent  universe.  Such  is  the  whole  of  the  Creative  Word,  which, 
even  wheu  nnpronounced  aud  nnrecited,  outweighs  a  thousand 
breathed  prayers,  which  are  not  pronounced,  nor  recited,  nor  sung. 
And  he  who  in  this  world,  O  most  holy  Zoroaster,  remembers  the 
whole  of  the  Creative  Word,  or  utters  it,  or  sings  it,  I  will  lead  his 
soul  thrice  across  the  bridge  of  the  better  world,  to  the  better  exist- 
ence, to  the  better  truth,  to  the  better  days.  I  pronounced  this 
Speech  which  contains  the  Word  and  its  working  to  accomplish  the 
creation  of  this  heaven,  before  the  creation  of  the  earth,  of  the  tree, 
of  the  four-footed  cow,  before  the  birth  of  the  truthful  man." 

"He  is  a  holy  man,"  says  Ormazd  elsewhere,  "who  constructs  upon 
the  earth  a  habitation  in  which  he  maintains  fire,  cattle,  his  wife,  his 
children,  and  flocks  and  herds.  He  who  makes  the  earth  produce 
grain,  who  cultivates  the  fruits  of  the  fields,  he  maintains  purity;  he 


THE   AVESTA.  63 

promotes  the  law  of  Ormazd  as  much  as  if  he  offered  a  hundred  sac- 
riflces." 

Avestan  Philosophy. — The  Avesta  seems  to  recognize  one 
eternal  Supreme  Being,  infinite  and  omnipotent.  This  was 
Ormazd  (Spiritual  Wise  One\  whom  Zoroaster  invokes  as  the 
source  of  light  and  purity,  "true,  lucid,  shining,"  all-perfect,  all- 
powerful,  all-beautiful,  all-wise."  Opposed  to  Ormazd  was  a 
principle  of  darkness  and  evil,  called  Ah'riman  (Sinful-minded}. 
The  theory  of  evolution  finds  no  support  in  the  Avesta,  which 
contains  an  account  of  the  creation  of  the  universe  strikingly 
like  that  of  Moses.  Traditions  of  the  fall  of  man  through  the 
falsehood  of  Ahriman,  and  of  a  universal  deluge,  are  also 
handed  down. 

Zoroaster's  mission  was  to  exhort  men  to  follow  the  right 
and  forsake  the  wrong.  "  Choose  one  of  these  two  spirits, 
the  Good  or  the  Base,"  he  said;  "you  cannot  serve  both." 
Again : — 

"  Of  these  two  spirits,  the  evil  one  chose  the  worst  deeds ;  the  Kind 
Spirit,  he  whose  garment  is  the  immovable  sky,  chose  what  is  right ; 
as  they  also  do  who  faithfully  please  Ormazd  hy  good  works. 

Hear  with  your  ears  what  is  hest,  perceive  with  your  mind  what 
is  pure,  so  that  every  man  may  choose  for  himself  his  tenets  before 
the  great  doom. 

Let  our  mind,  then,O  bliss-conferring  Truth  !  be  there  where  wis- 
dom abides.  Let  us  be  of  those  who  further  the  well-being  of  man- 
kind. 

Then  indeed  will  be  the  fall  of  pernicious  Falsehood ;  but  in  the 
beautiful  abode  of  the  Good  Spirit  will  be  gathered  forever  those 
who  dwell  in  good  report. 

O  men  !  if  you  cling  to  these  commandments  which  the  Wise  One 
has  given,  which  are  a  torment  to  the  wicked  and  a  blessing  to  the 
righteous,  then  through  them  will  you  have  the  victory." 

Like  Buddha,  the  Persian  reformer  raised  his  voice  against 
the  priesthood,  and  the  corruptions  which  had  crept  into  the 
national  religion.  Devil-worship,  which  had  come  into  vogue 
as  a  means  of  averting  the  evil  supposed  to  be  wrought  by 
wicked  spirits,  he  specially  denounced,  recognizing  in  sin  the 


64  PERSIAN   LITERATURE. 

cause  of  all  human  sorrow,  and  urging  men  to  wage  uncom- 
promising warfare  with  the  powers  of  darkness,  relying  for  aid 
on  the  Good  Spirit.  "Give  offering  and  praise,"  says  the 
Avesta,  "to  that  Lord  who  made  men  greater  than  all  earthly 
beings,  and  through  the  gift  of  speech  created  them  to  rule 
the  creatures,  as  warriors  against  the  evil  spirits."  Fire  was 
invoked  as  the  symbol  of  Divinity,  and  the  sun  as  "  the  eye 
of  Ormazd ;"  but  idolatry  Zoroaster  and  his  disciples  abhorred. 
Ormazd  was  the  rewarder  of  the  good,  the  punisher  of  the 
bad.  Those  who  obeyed  him,  and  were  "pure  in  thoughts, 
pure  in  words,  pure  in  actions,"  were  admitted  at  death  into 
Paradise,  "  the  House  of  the  Angels'  Hymns,"  where  all  was 
brightness :  the  wicked  were  consigned  to  a  region  of  ever- 
lasting darkness  and  woe,  "  the  House  of  Destruction."  Of 
all  the  religions  of  human  origin,  Zoroaster's,  though  not  free 
from  superstition  and  cumbrous  rites,  approaches  nearest  to 
the  truth.  It  was  gladly  accepted  by  the  people,  and  did 
much  to  elevate  them  and  improve  their  condition.  We  have 
thrown  into  verse  the  following 

HYMN  TO  ORMAZD. 

Praise  to  Ormazd,  great  Creator, 

He  it  was  the  cattle  made ; 
Lord  of  purity  and  goodness, 

Trees  and  water,  sun  aiid  shade. 
Unto  him  belongs  the  kingdom, 

Unto  him  the  might  belongs; 
Unto  him,  as  first  of  beings, 

Light-creator,  float  our  songs. 

Him  we  praise,  Ahurian  Mazda, 

With  our  life  and  bodies  praise; 
Purer  than  the  purest,  fairest, 

Bright  through  never-ending  days. 
What  is  good  and  what  is  brilliant, 

That  we  reverence  in  thee — 
Thy  good  spirit,  thy  good  kingdom, 

Wisdom,  law,  and  equity. 

Persian  Inscriptions. — In  a  flower-clad  plain  of  southwest- 


CUNEIFORM   INSCRIPTIONS. 


65 


ern  Persia,  shut  in  from  the  outer  world  by  lofty  hills,  and 
now  dotted  with  pleasant  villages,  once  stood  the  great  palace 
of  Persep'olis,  the  wonder  of  the  world  for  its  magnificence — 
which  Alexander,  in  a  fit  of  drunken  fury,  reduced  to  a  heap 
of  ruins  with  his  wanton  torch  (331  B.C.).  Yet,  though  silent 
and  deserted,  "  the  piles  of  fallen  Persepolis  "  speak  to  us,  not 
only  with  their  strange  sculptures,  but  also  through  the  in- 
scriptions carved  upon  them  in  cuneiform  letters,  originally 
adorned  with  °:olcl. 


MOUNTAIN  RECORD  Of  DAFtlUS. 


Not  far  from  these  ruins  is  the  famous  rock  of  Behistun, 
1,700  feet  high,  and  inscribed  with  the  same  arrow-headed, 
wedge-shaped  characters.  Some  of  these,  protected  from  the 


66  PERSIAN  LITERATURE. 

weather  by  a  varnish  of  flint,  have  been  wonderfully  preserved 
to  the  present  time. 

This  mountain -record  was  set  up  by  Darius  I.  (516-515 
B.C.),  who,  in  the  shadow  of  the  palace-walls  of  Persepolis,  was 
wont  to  sit  upon  a  throne  of  gold,  canopied  by  a  vine  of  the 
same  precious  metal  bearing  clusters  of  priceless  gems.  It  is 
his  triumphal  tablet,  graven  with  figures  of  himself  and  several 
conquered  princes.  It  records  his  victories,  asserts  his  hered- 
itary right  to  the  throne,  and  enumerates  the  provinces  of  his 
vast  empire,  in  nearly  a  thousand  lines  of  cuneiform  charac- 
ters— in  three  different  languages,  the  Persian,  Scythian,  and 
Babylonian — that  it  might  be  understood  by  all  his  subjects. 

Here  the  Persian  monarch  announces  his  dignity,  while  he 
attributes  the  glory  of  it  all  to  the  God  Supreme  : — 

"I  am  Darius,  the  Great  King,  the  King  of  Kings,  the  King  of 
Persia,  the  King  of  the  dependent  provinces,  the  sou  of  Hystaspes. 

By  the  grace  of  Ormazd  I  am  King.  Oruiazd  has  granted  me  my 
empire.  The  countries  \vhich  have  fallen  into  my  hauds,  by  the 
grace  of  Ormazd  I  have  become  kiug  of  them. 

Within  these  countries,  •whoever  was  good,  him  have  I  cherished 
and  protected ;  whoever  was  evil,  him  have  I  utterly  destroyed.  By 
the  grace  of  Ormazd,  these  countries  have  obeyed  my  laws.  By  tho 
grace  of  Ormazd,  I  hold  this  empire." 

Other  inscriptions  were  cut  by  order  of  Xerxes,  whose  royal 
name  and  title  they  formally  declare ;  but  there  are  none  of 
any  later  date. 

Cuneiform  letters  were  also  employed  by  other  nations,  as 
will  be  hereafter  seen  (page  105).  The  Persian  writing  is  the 
least  complicated,  and  is  in  the  Zend  language,  but  Zend  in 
a  later  stage  of  development  than  the  primitive  tongue  of  the 
Avesta.  

NOTES  ON  PERSIAN  LITERATURE,  ETC. 

Ancient  Persian  records  made  on  leather;  parchment  the  favorite  writing 
material,  the  high  price  of  papyrus  preventing  its  adoption.  Bricks  seldom  used 
for  inscriptions.  A  running  hand,  different  from  the  cuneiform,  probably  in  use 


LIBRARIES. — THE    MAGI.  67 

among  the  people  for  ordinary  purposes,  as  every  educated  person  could  undoubt- 
edly write :  no  trace  of  this  left. 

The  kings  of  Persia  founders  of  a  library  consisting  of  historical  records,  state 
archives,  and  royal  ordinances.  "  The  house  of  the  rolls  "  at  Babylon  is  men- 
tioned in  the  book  of  Ezra  as  being  searched,  during  the  reign  of  Darius,  for  a 
certain  volume  supposed  to  contain  a  decree  of  Cyrus,  providing  for  the  rebuild- 
ing of  the  Temple  at  Jerusalem. 

The  old  priestly  order  of  Media  a..d  Persia,  known  as  Ma'gi;  devoted  to  sci- 
entific studies,  in  which  they  attained  such  eminence  that  they  were  believed  to 
possess  supernatural  powers — whence  our  word  magic.  The  "  wise  men  "  of  the 
New  Testament  by  some  supposed  to  be  Persian  Magi. 

The  Zoroastrian  religion,  which  was  on  the  wane,  restored  and  maintained  in 
the  third  century  after  Christ  by  the  Sassan'idae,  who  measured  swords  success- 
fully with  the  Roman  emperors,  and  extended  the  power  of  Persia.  The  coins 
of  this  dynasty  stamped  on  one  side  with  five  altars,  which  seem  to  have  been 
carried  before  the  kings  in  processions  as  emblematical  of  their  faith. 

Most  of  the  ancient  Persian  literature  lost  during  the  struggle  with  Alexander 
the  Great,  and  subsequent  wars  and  convulsions. 


CHAPTER  III. 
CHINESE  LITERATURE. 

Chinese  Language. — From  the  Persian  Gathas  and  Vedic 
hymns,  let  us  now  turn  to  the  prose  writings  of  the  Chinese 
philosophers,  plain,  grave,  and  moral  in  their  tone.  The  lan- 
guage in  which  their  tenets  have  been  preserved  differs  ma- 
terially from  the  musical  Sanscrit  and  its  sister  Zend. 

Modern  Chinese,  which  has  changed  but  little  from  the 
ancient  tongue  and  is  the  least  developed  of  all  existing  lan- 
guages, is  monosyllabic ;  i.  e.  each  syllable  conveys  a  com- 
plete idea,  all  its  words  are  expressed  by  single  separate 
sounds.  Of  these  elements,  or  roots,  it  contains  450 ;  changes 
of  emphasis  and  intonation,  accompanied  with  corresponding 
changes  in  meaning,  increase  this  number  to  1,263. 

Chinese  may  be  called  a  language  without  grammar,  as  it 


68  CHINESE    LITERATURE. 

dispenses  with  inflection  and  conjugation,  and  leaves  the  rela- 
tions of  words  and  their  functions  as  different  parts  of  speech 
to  be  determined  by  the  arrangement.  Thus  sin  means  hon- 
or, honorable,  honorably,  or  to  be  honorable,  according  to  its  po- 
sition in  the  sentence.  Plurality  and  gender  are  generally  in- 
dicated by  adding  roots  with  a  modifying  signification.  Son 
in  Chinese  is  man-child;  daughter,  -woman-child ;  a  mare  is 
called  a  mother-horse;  people  is  the  word  surnames  with  a 
hundred  prefixed.  This  grouping  together  of  roots  is  carried 
to  great  lengths.  Writing  materials  is  expressed  by  two  words 
denoting four precious  objects  (paper,  brush,  ink,  and  palette) ;  a 
trader  is  a  buying-selling-man  ;  a  knife  is  a  sword' s-son;  while 
difference  of  opinion  is  expressed  by  four  words  meaning  / 
east,  thou  west. 

Characters  used  in  Writing.  —  The  written  characters  of 
the  Chinese  were  originally  outline  pictures  of  visible  objects; 
specimens  are  presented  below.  A  crescent  (i)  stood  for  the 
moon;  three  peaks  (2), for  a  mountain;  (3)  is  a  tortoise,  (4)  a 
fish,  (5)  a  field.  Pictographs  were  frequently  combined  to 
represent  a  single  idea.  The  notion  of  song,  for  instance, 
was  conveyed  by  a  mouth  and  a  bird  (6) ;  that  of  tears,  by 
the  symbols  for  eye  and  water;  beauty  and  goodness,  by  the 
representation  of  a  virgin  and  an  infant. 

(3) 
(1)  (K  V  (4)  (6) 


A  phonetic  symbol  is  often  joined  with  a  pure  hieroglyphic 
in  one  and  the  same  character ;  as  in  the  case  of  the  sign  for 
a  rapid  stream,  which  is  composed  of  the  ideogram  for  water 
and  a  symbol  denoting  the  sound  of  a  torrent.  And  quite 
necessary  is  the  ideographic  element:  the  one  sound  tschoo,  for 
example,  means  ape,  whirlpool,  island,  silk,  deep,  a  wine,  a  kind 


CHINESE    HIEROGLYPHICS.  69 

of  plant,  to  enclose,  to  help,  to  quarrel,  to  walk,  to  answer.  It 
would  be  next  to  impossible  to  interpret  the  written  symbol 
correctly,  were  not  a  separate  ideogram  adopted  for  each  idea. 
This  necessary  device,  however,  involved  the  wholesale  multi- 
plication of  characters.  Over  40,000  are  contained  in  the 
fullest  dictionaries ;  but  three-fourths  of  this  number  are  al- 
most wholly  unknown,  and  only  about  5,000  are  in  common 
use. 

It  is  interesting  to  notice  how,  in  the  course  of  ages,  the 
old  hieroglyphics  have  been  transformed  into  the  present 
characters.  -The  symbol  representing  the  verb  to  listen,  two 


folding-doors  and  an  ear  between  them  j^Lj"^    ls  now 

B  a  v   ' 

written  Mcf  |.  Two  shells  exactly  alike  originally  stood 
for  two  friends  YJTX  YT/ ;  this  symbol  has  been  changed 
to  rj  /7 •  A  mountain  is  now  ^M;  a  field  f4»I.  The 

most  complicated  modern  character  is  made  by  fifty  -  two 
strokes  of  the  pen. 

Antiquity  of  Chinese  Literature. — China  prides  herself  on 
her  antiquity,  and  her  literature  carries  us  back  to  the  remot- 
est past.  From  those  early  days  to  the  present  the  chain  is 
almost  unbroken,  notwithstanding  the  irreparable  loss  sus- 
tained when  the  ruthless  Ching  Wang  destroyed  the  great  bulk 
of  Chinese  literature  (220-205  B.C.).  This  emperor  is  noted 
for  his  erection  of  the  Great  Wall,  and  notorious  for  his  con- 
tempt of  learning.  Thinking  to  reconcile  the  masses  to  his 
despotism  by  keeping  them  in  ignorance,  and  to  deceive  pos- 
terity with  the  belief  that  he  had  founded  the  empire,  he  or- 
dered all  books,  except  those  on  husbandry,  divination,  and 
medicine,  to  be  burned.  Any  person  found  with  a  book  in  his 
possession  was  condemned  to  labor  four  years  on  the  Great 


70  CHINESE    LITERATURE. 

Wall,  and  several  hundred  scholars  who  resisted  the  royal  de- 
cree were  buried  alive. 

The  dynasty  of  "  the  book-burner,"  however,  was  not  long 
after  overthrown ;  and  among  the  succeeding  princes  was 
found  a  "  restorer  of  literature,"  who  collected  and  preserved 
for  future  generations  the  writings  which,  concealed  by  the 
people  in  the  walls  of  their  houses  or  buried  beneath  the  beds 
of  streams,  had  escaped  destruction.  To  his  praiseworthy  ef- 
forts we  are  indebted  for  all  that  remains  of  the  ancient  liter- 
ature,— the  Sacred  Books  of  China,  edited  by  Confu'cius  her 
admirable  philosopher,  as  well  as  for  the  works  of  Confucius 
himself  and  his  disciples. 

Confucius,  to  whom  we  are  thus  introduced,  the  reverend 
master,  the  beloved  teacher  of  his  countrymen,  stands  out  in 
bold  relief  as  the  most  distinguished  personage  in  Chinese 
history.  His  birth,  which  took  place  551  B.C.,  was  mysterious- 
ly predicted,  as  legend  tells  us,  on  a  precious  stone  found  in 
his  father's  garden :  "  A  child  is  about  to  be  born,  pure  as  the 
crystal  wave ;  he  shall  be  a  king,  but  without  territorial  do- 
minion." Wonderfully  has  this  prophecy  been  fulfilled ;  the 
child,  as  we  shall  see,  became  a  king  whose  subjects  were 
numbered  by  hundreds  of  millions. 

Born  in  an  evil  age,  when  corruption  had  undermined  the 
government,  and  misrule  and  violence  were  everywhere  rife, 
Confucius  early  dedicated  himself  to  the  cause  of  social  and 
political  reform.  At  twenty-two  he  entered  upon  his  work  as 
a  teacher,  thoroughly  fitted  for  the  high  vocation,  for  he  had 
been  so  eager  after  knowledge  as  to  feel  no  toil  in  its  pursuit, 
and  sometimes  even  to  forget  his  food.  His  merits  were  rec- 
ognized; and  when  at  last  he  was  raised  to  the  position  of 
prime-minister,  he  labored  in  season  and  out  of  season  for  the 
welfare  of  his  people — and  with  the  best  results.  But  then, 
as  now,  princes  were  ungrateful,  and  the  neglect  of  his  sover- 
eign led  to  his  resignation.  Henceforth  the  mission  of  Con- 


CONFUCIUS.  71 

fucius,  no  less  useful  if  humbler  than  before,  was  simply  to 
disseminate  his  precepts,  wandering  from  state  to  state  among 
the  fifteen  millions  who  constituted  the  population  of  what  was 
then  China.  Occupied  thus  and  with  the  study  of  the  Sacred 
Books,  he  finally  found  rest  in  his  native  state,  and  there  passed 
his  declining  years  in  the  midst  of  loving  disciples,  "uncon- 
scious," as  he  tells  us,  "  that  he  had  reached  old  age."  He 
died  at  seventy-three,  lamenting  that,  despite  his  prolonged 
efforts,  so  little  had  been  accomplished  toward  elevating  the 
moral  standard  of  the  nation. 

Yet  after  his  death,  his  influence  was  destined  far  to  exceed 
his  most  sanguine  longings ;  it  has  been  greater  than  that  of 
any  other  human  teacher.  No  other  has  ever  spoken  to  so 
many  millions,  or  received  such  honors  from  posterity.  For 
more  than  twenty  centuries,  his  precepts  have  been  taught  in 
the  schools  of  China  (and  each  little  village  has  its  common 
school) ;  at  stated  times,  every  scholar,  on  entering  in  the 
morning,  still  bows  in  adoration  before  a  tablet  sacred  to  Con- 
fucius. The  learned  can  repeat  page 
after  page  from  his  classical  books; 
and  scores  of  his  maxims  are  familiar 
to  the  masses,  who  have  positively  no 
other  moral  law  to  guide  them.  His 
tomb,  approached  by  an  avenue  of  cy- 
presses through  a  gate  of  exquisite  work- 
manship, is  inscribed  with  the  words, 
"  The  most  sagely  ancient  Teacher ;  the 
all -accomplished,  all -informed  King." 
About  the  spot  are  imperial  tablets  ^ 
"with  glowing  tributes  to  the  one  man 
whom  China  delights  to  honor ;"  and  3 
in  the  city  near  by  live  50,000  of  his  de- 
scendants, constituting  a  distinct  class 
—the  head  of  the  family  holding  large  CONKHCIAN  PRIEST? 


72 


CHINESE    LITERATURE. 


estates  as  "Duke  by  imperial  appointment  and  hereditary 
right,  continuator  of  the  sage."  There  is  a  temple  of  Confu- 
cius in  every  city,  and  Confucian  priests  superintend  various 
ceremonies  for  both  mandarins  and  common  people. 

Tenets  of  Confucius. — Confucius  claimed  no  divine  inspira- 
tion ;  he  founded  no  new  religion.  To  him  the  Almighty  was 
"  the  Unknown  God,"  and  there  was  no  Paul  to  declare  him 
to  the  philosopher.  He  avoided  referring  to  a  personal  Su- 
preme Being,  and  thought  that  the  study  of  themselves  should 
suffice  for  men.  As  to  death  and  a  future  state,  he  was 
equally  reticent.  "While  you  do  not  know  life,"  he  said  to 
an  inquiring  disciple,  "what  can  you  know  about  death?" 
With  polygamy,  then  an  institution  of  his  country,  he  found 
no  fault ;  and  for  women  as  such  he  appears  to  have  had 
no  kindly  word,  or  very  elevated  regard. 

The  aim  of  Confucius  was  to  inculcate  certain  lofty  princi- 
ples of  conduct,  to  govern  men  in  their  relations  to  each  other 
and  to  the  ruling  powers.  Respect  for  learning,  filial  piety,* 
and  veneration  for  the  men  and  institutions  of  ancient  days, 
were  corner-stones  of  his  system,  and  are  still 
deeply  impressed  on  the  Chinese  mind.  His 
golden  rule  "What  you  do  not  like  when  done  to 
yourself,  do  not  to  others  " — expressed  in  written 
language  by  a  single  ideogram — was  the  one  word 
he  specially  commended  as  embodying  the  sum 
and  substance  of  duty. 

*  We  find  one  phase  of  this  in  the  worship  of  ancestral  tablets. 
These  are  of  wood,  a  foot  high,  and  bear  the  name  of  the  departed 
ancestor,  the  hour  of  his  birth,  and  that  of  his  decease.  They 
are  worshipped  twice  a  month  with  tapers  and  burning  incense. 
Death  is  believed  to  liberate  three  spirits  from  the  tenement  of 
clay ;  while  one  of  these  occupies  the  grave,  and  another  seeks 
the  invisible  world,  the  third  is  supposed  to  take  up  its  habita- 
tion in  the  tablet  erected  by  filial  reverence.  The  accompanying 
engraving  shows  one  of  these  ancestral  tablets  with  its  inscription 
in  Chinese. 


THE    CHINESE   CLASSICS.  73 

The  practical  workings  of  this  rule,  as  enforced  by  the  au- 
thority of  the  great  master,  were  recently  exemplified  in  the 
case  of  an  American  traveller.  As  he  and  his  companion 
were  passing  through  a  Chinese  town,  their  strange  faces  and 
unusual  costumes  attracted  a  crowd,  and  hooting  seemed  likely 
to  be  followed  by  serious  violence.  With  admirable  presence 
of  mind,  one  of  the  strangers  faced  the  throng,  and  amid  a 
shower  of  mud  and  stones  exclaimed:  "Is  this  the  way,  O 
people !  that  you  obey  the  precepts  of  your  philosophers,  to 
treat  strangers  within  your  walls  tenderly?  Have  you  for- 
gotten the  saying  of  your  great  master  Confucius, — "  That 
which  I  wish  another  not  to  do  to  me,  I  must  not  do  to 
him  ?"  The  effect  was  electric.  In  a  moment  every  hand 
was  lowered,  and  the  recent  assailants  sought  as  best  they 
could  to  make  amends  for  their  rudeness. 

The  Chinese  Classics  comprise  the  Sacred  Books  already 
alluded  to,  viz.,  the  Five  King ;  also  the  Four  Shoo,  or  Books 
of  the  Philosophers  (Confucius  and  the  writers  of  his  school). 
King  is  the  equivalent  of  our  word  text,  and  the  Five  Sacred 
Texts  are  the  YIH  King,  Book  of  Changes ;  the  SHOO  King, 
Book  of  History ;  the  SHE  King,  Book  of  Poetry ;  the  LE  KE 
King,  Book  of  Rites;  and  the  Spring  and  Autumn,  an  histor- 
ical record  of  events  in  the  native  state  of  Confucius,  from  721 
to  480  B.C.  It  was  written  by  that  philosopher  himself,  who 
so  entitled  it  because  "  its  commendations  were  life-giving  like 
spring,  and  its  censures  life-withering  like  autumn."  The  first 
four  King,  which  rank  with  the  most  ancient  creations  of  the 
human  mind,  were  compiled  and  published  by  Confucius ;  the 
Book  of  Rites,  originally  drawn  up  by  the  ruler  of  Chow  in 
the  twelfth  century  B.C.,  received  additions  from  subsequent 
writers. 

Little  is  known  of  the  true  nature  of  the  mysterious  Book 
of  Changes  ;  it  apparently  relates  to  divination.  The  Shoo 
King  gives  us  the  history  of  China  from  the  earliest  periods  to 


7-i  CHINESE   LITERATURE. 

about  720  B.C.,  and  contains,  besides,  discourses  on  music, 
astronomy,  and  the  principles  of  government.  Part  of  it  was 
dictated  from  memory  by  a  blind  man  after  the  destruction  of 
the  original  tablets. 

In  the  She  King,  we  have  a  collection  of  305  odes  and 
hymns.  Many  of  them,  more  than  three  thousand  years  old, 
were  written  while  the  Chinese  Empire  was  as  yet  a  mere 
bundle  of  feudal  states ;  here,  as  in  all  other  lands,  the  first 
grand  thoughts  of  the  people  were  cast  in  the  mould  of  poetry. 
The  odes  are  in  rhyme,  and  mirror  the  every-day  life  and  sim- 
ple manners  of  antiquity — often  in  a  highly  metaphorical  style, 
but  with  a  dignity  and  attractiveness  which  the  later  poetry 
fails  to  exhibit.  They  paint  pleasing  pictures  of  rural  quiet, 
contain  delicate  touches  of  nature,  and  in  some  few  cases  dis- 
play a  high  appreciation  of  woman's  worth ;  on  the  whole, 
however,  the  status  assigned  to  the  gentler  sex  is  low.  Ex- 
tracts from  the  Book  of  Poetry  follow. 

FESTAL  ODE. 

(Celebrating  a  feast  given  by  an  ancient  king.) 

"  See  how  the  rushes  spring 

Thickly  along  the  way ! 
Ye  browsing  herds,  no  foot 

Upon  those  rushes  lay ! 
Grown  to  their  height  ere  long, 

They  soft  and  rich  shall  shine  ; 
Close  as  the  rushes  grow, 

Should  brethren  all  combine. 
Let  all  at  feast  appear, 

None  absent,  none  thought  mean. 
Mats  for  the  young  be  spread ! 

On  stools  let  elders  lean ! 

Lo !  double  mats  are  spread, 

Aud  stools  are  featly  set. 
Servants  in  waiting  stand  ; 

See !  host  and  guests  are  met. 
He  pledges  them  ;  they  him ; 

lie  drinks,  again  they  till. 


EXTKACTS   FitOM   THE    BOOK    OF   POETIJY.  75 

Sauces  and  pickles  come, 

Roast  meat,  and  broiled  ;  and  still 
Palates  and  trine  are  brought. 

Then  lutes  and  drums  appear, 
Singers  fine  concord  make — 

The  joyous  feasters  hear. 

The  feasting  o'er,  from  bow, 

Lacquered  and  strong  and  bright, 
Four  well-poised  shafts  each  sends, 

That  in  the  target  light. 
The  guests  are  ranged  as  they 

The  mark  have  nearest  hit. 
They  shoot  again  ;  the  shafts 

Are  fairly  lodged  in  it. 
Their  bearing  then  is  judged; 

Each  takes  his  final  place, 
As  mild  propriety 

Has  round  him  thrown  its  grace. 

The  long-descended  king 

Presides  and  ends  the  feast. 
With  spirits  sweet  and  strong 

From  vase  he  cheers  each  guest. 
And  for  the  old  he  prays, 

While  all  with  rapture  glow, 
That  they  the  wrinkled  back 

And  whitening  hair  may  show  ; 
Striving  with  mutual  help 

In  virtue's  onward  ways, 
That  brightest  happiness 

May  crown  their  latest  days." 

LEGGE. 


PASTORAL  ODE. 

(An  industrious  wife  wakens  her  husband  at  early  dawn.) 

"'Get  up,  husband,  here's  the  day !' 
'Not  yet,  wife,  the  dawn's  still  gray.' 
'Get  up,  sir,  and  on  the  right, 
See  the  morning-star  shines  bright. 
Shake  off  slumber,  and  prepare 
Ducks  and  geese  to  shoot  and  snare. 

All  your  darts  and  line  may  kill, 
I  will  dress  for  you  with  skill. 


76  CHINESE    LITEKATUKE. 

Tims  a  blithesome  hour  we'll  pass, 
Brightened  by  a  cheerful  glass ; 

While  your  lute  its  aid  imparts, 
To  gratify  and  soothe  our  hearts.'" 
LEGGE. 


ODE  TO  A  BRIDE. 

"  Gay  child  of  Spriug,  the  garden's  Queen, 

Yon  peach-tree  charms  the  roving  sight ; 
Its  fragrant  leaves,  how  richly  green  ! 
Its  blossoms,  how  divinely  bright ! 

So  softly  smiles  the  blooming  bride, 

By  love  and  conscious  virtue  led, 
O'er  her  new  mansion  to  preside, 

And  placid  joys  around  her  spread." 

SIH  WILLIAM  JONES. 

The  Book  of  Rites  prescribes  rules  of  conduct  for  all  occa- 
sions, from  the  most  important  down  to  a  mere  interchange 
of  greetings.  With  Chinamen  ceremonial  is  everything,  and 
the  influence  which  this  book  has  exerted  on  manners  and 
society  for  three  thousand  years  cannot  be  estimated.  It  is 
still  the  standard  of  etiquette,  a  governing  board  at  Pekin 
being  charged  with  the  duty  of  enforcing  its  rigid  observance. 

Spring  and  Autumn,  professedly  written  in  the  interests  of 
morality  and  good  order,  to  inspire  wicked  officials  and  undu- 
tiful  sons  with  wholesome  terror,  disappoints  us  in  the  reading. 
It  is  made  up  of  short,  unconnected  sentences,  stating  isolated 
facts  (some  of  them  quite  insignificant)  in  the  baldest  manner, 
without  any  attempt  at  rhetorical  excellence  or  any  expression 
of  condemnation  or  praise.  Whether  a  temple  is  struck  by 
lightning,  or  a  father  is  murdered  by  his  son,  or  locusts  ap- 
pear, or  some  glorious  exploit  is  performed,  or  the  ruler  goes 
on  a  journey,  or  the  sun  is  eclipsed — it  is  just  stated  in  so 
many  words — nothing  more.  The  historical  style  of  Con- 
fucius is  certainly  not  striking,  and  we  fail  to  see  why  the 


ANALECTS   OF   CONFUCIUS.  77 

guilty  should  have  "quaked  with  fear"  when  his  annals  ap- 
peared. 

The  Four  Shoo  are  constituted  as  follows:  1.  The  Confu- 
cian Analects  (literary  fragments).  2.  The  Great  Learning. 
3.  The  Doctrine  of  the  Mean  (as  opposed  to  extremes — the 
Moderate).  4.  The  works  of  Mencius,  or  the  philosopher 
Meng,  a  disciple  of  Confucius,  and  second  only  to  his  mas- 
ter among  the  sages  of  China. 

The  Analects  consist  of  the  sayings  of  Confucius,  as  they 
occur  in  conversations  with  his  followers.  Sententious,  sim- 
ple, and  sometimes  signally  beautiful,  they  contain  the  very 
marrow  of  wisdom  based  upon  observation  and  experience. 
They  shine  among  the  laconics  of  the  world.  A  few  speci- 
mens are  subjoined. 

EXTRACTS  FROM  THE  ANALECTS. 

"  The  Master  said :  '  lu  the  Book  of  Poetry  are  three  hundred 
pieces,  but  the  design  of  all  may  be  embraced  iii  oue  sentence — Have 
110  depraved  thoughts.' 

There  are  cases  in  which  the  blade  springs,  but  the  plant  does  not 
go  on  to  flower.  There  are  cases  where  it  flowers,  but  no  fruit  is 
subsequently  produced. 

Learning  without  thought  is  labor  lost;  thought  without  learniug 
is  perilous. 

Worship  as  if  the  Deity  were  present. 

Good  government  obtains  when  those  who  are  near  are  made 
happy,  and  those  who  are  far  off  are  attracted. 

Three  friendships  are  advantageous, — friendship  with  the  upright, 
friendship  with  the  sincere,  and  friendship  with  the  man  of  observa- 
tion. Three  are  injurious, — friendship  with  the  man  of  specious 
airs,  friendship  with  the  insinuatingly  soft,  and  friendship  with  the 
glib-tongued. 

To  see  what  is  right  and  not  to  do  it,  is  want  of  courage. 

The  cautious  seldom  err. 

If  I  am  building  a  mountain,  and  stop  before  the  last  basketful  of 
earth  is  placed  on  the  summit,  I  have  failed  of  my  work.  But  if  I 
have  placed  but  one  basketful  on  the  plain  and  go  on,  I  am  really 
building  a  mountain. 

Shall  I  teach  you  what  knowledge  is  ?  '  When  you  know  a  thing, 
to  hold  that  you  know  it ;  and  when  you  do  not  know  a  thing,  to 
confess  your  ignorance — is  knowledge. 

D 


78  CHINESE   LITERATURE. 

Extravagance  leads  to  insubordination,  and  parsimony  to  mean- 
ness. It  is  better  to  be  mean  than  insubordinate. 

Learn  the  past,  and  you  will  know  the  future. 

A  poor  man  who  flatters  not  and  a  rich  man  who  is  not  proud,  are 
passable  characters  ;  but  they  are  not  equal  to  the  poor  who  are  yet 
cheerful,  and  the  rich  who  yet  love  the  rules  of  propriety. 

When  you  transgress,  fear  not  to  return. 

"Were  I  to  say  that  the  departed  were  possessed  of  consciousness, 
pious  sons  might  dissipate  their  fortunes  in  festivals  of  the  dead ; 
and  were  I  to  deny  their  consciousness,  heartless  sous  might  leave 
their  fathers  unburied. 

With  coarse  rice  to  eat,  water  to  drink,  and  my  bended  arm  for  a 
pillow — I  have  still  happiness  even  with  these ;  but  riches  and  hon- 
ors acquired  by  unrighteousness  are  to  me  as  a  floating  cloud. 

What  the  superior  man  seeks  is  in  himself ;  what  the  small  man 
seeks  is  in  others." 

The  Great  Learning,  based  on  the  teachings  of  Confucius, 
and  ascribed  to  one  or  more  of  his  followers,  evinces  political 
sagacity  in  its  suggestions  for  the  perfecting  of  government, 
insisting  that  the  welfare  of  the  people  should  be  the  single 
aim,  and  scouting  the  idea  of  any  divine  right  in  kings  to 
rule  except  in  accordance  with  the  principles  of  justice  and 
virtue. 

EXTRACTS  FROM  THE  GREAT  LEARNING. 

"  The  ancients  who  wished  to  establish  illustrious  virtue  through- 
out the  empire,  first  ordered  well  their  own  states.  Wishing  to  order 
well  their  states,  they  first  regulated  their  families.  Wishing  to 
regulate  their  families,  they  first  cultivated  their  persons.  Wishing 
to  cultivate  their  persons,  they  first  rectified  their  hearts. 

From  the  loving  example  of  one  family,  a  whole  state  becomes  lov- 
ing ;  and  from  its  courtesies,  the  whole  state  becomes  courteous : 
while  from  the  ambition  and  perverseness  of  one  man,  the  whole  state 
may  be  led  to  rebellious  disorder:  such  is  the  nature  of  influence. 
This  verifies  the  saying :  '  Affairs  may  be  ruined  by  a  single  sentence ; 
a  kingdom  may  be  settled  by  its  one  man.' 

It  is  not  possible  for  one  to  teach  others,  while  he  cannot  teach 
his  own  family.  There  is  filial  piety,  there  is  fraternal  submission, 
there  is  kindness.  Therefore  the  ruler,  without  going  beyond  his 
family,  completes  the  lessons  for  the  state. 

Never  has  there  been  a  case  of  the  sovereign  loving  benevolence, 
and  the  people  not  loving  righteousness.  Never  has  there  been  a 
case  where  the  people  loved  righteousness,  and  the  affairs  of  the  sove- 
reign have  not  been  carried  to  completion. 


DOCTRINE    OF   THE    MEAX.  V9 

What  a  man  dislikes  iu  his  superiors,  let  him  not  display  in  the 
treatment  of  his  inferiors;  what  be  dislikes  in  inferiors,  let  him  not 
display  iu  the  service  of  his  superiors.  What  he  hates  iu  those  who 
are  hefore  him,  let  him  not  therewith  precede  those  who  are  behind 
him.  What  he  is  unwilling  to  receive  on  the  right,  let  him  not  be- 
stow on  the  left.  This  is  what  is  called  '  The  principle  with  which, 
as  with  a  measuring-square,  to  regulate  one's  conduct.' " 

The  Doctrine  of  the  Mean  was  written  by  the  grandson  of 
Confucius,  who  in  his  boyhood  listened  to  the  wise  instructions 
of  the  sage,  and  professed  himself  ready  to  carry  "  the  bundle 
of  firewood  his  grandsire  had  gathered  and  prepared,"  thus 
leading  Confucius  to  exclaim  with  delight:  "  My  undertakings 
will  not  come  to  naught;  they  will  be  carried  on,  and  flourish." 
The  philosophy  of  this  work  is  obscure;  for  while  it  presents 
examples  of  filial  piety,  and  draws  an  ideal  of  the  perfect  man, 
"  possessed  of  all  sagely  qualities,"  who  alone  is  able  to  "  ac- 
cord with  the  course  of  the  Mean,"  its  language  with  reference 
to  that  Mean  is  decidedly  mystical.  Thus : — 

"  While  there  are  no  stirrings  of  pleasure,  anger,  sorrow,  or  joy,"  the 
mind  may  be  said  to  be  iu  a  state  of  EQUILIBRIUM.  When  those  feel- 
ings have  been  stirred  and  act  in  their  due  degree,  there  ensues  what 
may  be  called  the  state  of  HARMONY.  This  equilibrium  is  the  great 
root  from  which  grow  all  the  human  actings  in  the  world,  and  this 
harmony  is  the  universal  path  which  they  all  should  pursue. 

Let  the  states  of  equilibrium  and  harmony  exist  in  perfection,  and 
a  happy  order  will  prevail  throughout  heaven  and  earth,  and  all 
things  will  flourish. 

The  Master  said  : — '  Perfect  is  the  virtue  which  is  according  to  the 
Mean.  Rare  have  they  long  been  among  the  people,  who  could  prac- 
tise it!  I  kno\v  how  it  is  that  the  path  of  the  Mean  is  not  walked 
in  :  the  knowing  go  beyond  it,  and  the  stupid  do  not  come  up  to  it.'" 

Mencius,  author  of  the  fourth  Shoo,  lived  in  a  degenerate 
age,  but  without  fear  or  favor  threw  himself  into  the  arena  to 
wrestle  with  wickedness.  In  the  society  around  him  he  found 
many  fitting  marks  for  his  shafts  of  humor  and  satire.  Purifi- 
cation of  heart  was  his  remedy  for  evil ;  the  sinlessness  of 
childhood,  his  standard  of  moral  purity.  "The  great  man," 
said  Mencius,  "  is  he  who  does  not  lose  his  child's  heart." 


80  CHINESE    LITERATURE. 

Virtue  and  benevolence  are  insisted  on  in  the  voluminous 
works  of  this  philosopher — the  Plato  of  Chinese  literature  as 
Confucius  was  its  Socrates* — a  benevolence  that  should  not 
only  provide  for  the  physical  wants  of  the  people,  but  also  se- 
cure their  education  and  moral  advancement.  We  glean  the 
following  pointed  sentences  from  the 

SAYINGS  OF  MENCIUS. 

"  I  like  life  and  I  also  like  righteousness.  If  I  cannot  keep  tlie 
two  together,  I  will  let  life  go  and  choose  righteousness. 

When  one  by  force  subdues  men,  they  do  not  submit  to  him  ill 
heart,  but  because  their  strength  is  not  adequate  to  resist.  When 
one  subdues  men  by  virtue,  in  their  heart's  core  they  are  pleased,  and 
sincerely  submit,  as  was  the  case  with  the  seventy  disciples  in  their 
submission  to  Confucius. 

The  noblest  thing  in  the  world  is  the  people.  To  them  the  spir- 
its of  the  earth  and  the  fruits  of  the  earth  are  inferior.  The  prince 
is  least  important  of  all. 

Benevolence  brings  glory,  its  opposite  brings  disgrace. 

That  whereby  man  differs  from  the  animals  is  small.  Superior 
men  preserve  it,  while  the  mass  of  men  cast  it  away. 

There  is  a  way  to  get  the  kingdom ;  get  the  people,  and  the  king- 
dom is  got.  There  is  a  way  to  get  the  people ;  get  their  hearts,  and 
the  people  are  got.  The  people  turn  to  a  benevolent  rule  as  water 
flows  downward. 

Mencius  said:  'The  richest  fruit  of  benevolence  is  the  service 
of  one's  parents  ;  of  righteousness,  the  service  of  one's  elder  brother ; 
of  wisdom,  the  knowing  those  two  things  and  not  departing  from 
them.' " 

Spirit  of  the  Chinese  Classics.  —  One  prevailing  spirit 
breathes  through  the  nine  classical  books  of  the  Chinese 
— a  spirit  of  conservatism.  Confucius  nowhere  encourages 
men  to  take  independent  flights  into  the  realms  of  original 
thought.  He  ignores  the  future,  and  exalts  the  past.  His 
motto  was  not  Go  np  higher,  but  Walk  in  the  trodden  paths. 

*  The  two  Chinese  philosophers  remind  us  of  the  two  Greeks,  not  only  bv  the 
moral  tone  of  their  teachings,  but  by  their  relative  positions  as  master  and  fol- 
lower. Nor  were  their  respective  eras  widely  apart ;  compare  their  dates — 

The  master,  Confucius,  551-478  B.C.     The  master,  Socrates,  470-399  B.C. 

The  disciple,  Mencius,  370-288  B.C.      The  pupil,  Plato,  429-348  B.C. 


THE    CHINESE    CLASSICS. 


81 


WORSHIPPING  THE  ANCESTKAI.  TABLET  (p.  72). 

He  sought  to  reclaim  from  sin  and  folly,  but  only  by  winning 
to  the  purer  practices  of  that  venerable  antiquity  which  he 
so  blindly  admired.  Beyond  the  old  landmarks,  he  cared 
not  even  to  point  the  way. 

It  is  hardly  strange  that  under  such  leadership  the  nation 
became  wedded  to  formalism,  wrapped  itself  in  a  complacent 
aversion  to  novelty  or  progress,  eschewed  dealings  with  the 
outer  world,  and  in  a  word  came  to  an  intellectual  standstill 
for  four  and  twenty  centuries. 

Other  Works. — There  are  numerous  commentaries  on  the 
old  classics,  some  themselves  quite  ancient ;  but  they  are  mere 
reproductions  or  servile  imitations  of  the  original  texts. 


82  CHINESE    LITERATURE. 

Different,  however,  are  the  works  of  Lao-Tse,  who  was  con- 
temporary with  Confucius,  and  whose  writings  are  so  mystical 
that  the  matter-of-fact  Confucius  declared  himself  unable  to 
comprehend  them.  He  made  something  which  he  calls  Tao 
the  mainspring  of  the  universe,  the  source  and  ultimate  desti- 
nation of  all  things.  Many  of  his  followers,  to  whom  he  rec- 
ommended self-denial  and  retirement,  became  recluses;  their 
philosophy  was  perpetuated,  and  Taoism  is  still  professed  to 
some  extent  in  China. 

Having  little  imagination  for  works  of  fiction  and  no  genius 
for  the  higher  departments  of  poetry,  the  ancient  Chinese  pro- 
duced nothing  of  special  note— nothing,  at  least,  that  has  come 
clown  to  us — except  what  has  been  mentioned.  We  have  in- 
deed numerous  chronicles  of  the  various  dynasties,  industri- 
ously and  no  doubt  accurately  compiled;  but  they  lack  the 
graces  of  style,  and  possess  little  interest  for  the  general  Eu- 
ropean reader.  The  Bamboo  Annals,  found  in  a  royal  tomb 
284  A.D.,  is  the  oldest  of  these  chronicles  that  have  thus  far 
come  to  light. 

We  are  also  told  that  before  the  Christian  Era  numerous 
treatises  were  written  on  philosophy,  mathematics,  medicine, 
military  affairs,  husbandry,  law,  and  geography;  but  many  of 
these  perished  in  the  convulsions  which  afterward  shook  the 
empire. 

With  the  languages  of  Siam,  Burmah,  and  Thibet — all  mon- 
osyllabic like  the  Chinese  —  are  also  connected  literatures 
of  considerable  antiquity.  In  both  Burmah  and  Siam  the 
drama,  often  licentious,  has  always  been  popular,  its  exhi- 
bitions being  sometimes  prolonged  for  days.  Burmah  has 
records  that  purport  to  carry  back  its  history  almost  to  the 
Christian  Era.  The  best  writings  of  the  Siamese  are  imita- 
tions of  Hindoo  fictions,  while  the  literature  of  Thibet  is 
largely  made  up  of  commentaries  on  the  Tripitaka. 


WRITING. — BOOKS. — PRINTING. 


S3 


NOTES    ON    CHINESE    LITERATURE,  ETC. 

Bamboo  tablets  and  the  stylus,  the  ancient  writing  implements;  these  in  the 
reign  of  Ching  Wang,  the  book-burner,  superseded  by  the  brush,  and  paper  made 
of  closely  woven  silk.  Silk  paper,  found  too  expensive,  re- 
placed in  turn  by  paper  made  of  the  inner  bark  of  trees,  old 
rags,  and  worn-out  fishing-nets.  Books  multiply  in  conse- 
quence. At  the  Christian  Era,  the  imperial  library  con- 
tained 11,332  sections  filled  with  books  on  all  subjects,  but 
no  great  productions  of  genius.  The  old  classics  still  in 
the  front  rank. 

Printing  practised  in  China  GOO  A.D.,  nearly  900  years 
before  its  invention  in  Europe.  Movable  types  invented 
by  a  blacksmith  between  1000  and  1100  A.D.  The  types, 
made  of  clay  hardened  in  the  fire,  reduced  to  an  exact  level 
by  a  smooth  board,  and  then  cemented  to  an  iron  plate  with 
a  mixture  of  resin  and  wax.  The  production  of  books  thus 
greatly  facilitated.  Chinese  books  at  the  present  day  not 
printed  from  movable  types,  but  from  wooden  blocks  of  the 
size  of  the  page,  on  which  the  characters  are  cut  in  relief. 

Bronze  pieces  called  cash,  worth  one-tenth  of  a  cent, 
coined  as  early  as  the  12th  century  B.C. ;  strung  on  cords 
through  holes  with  which  they  are  pierced ;  in  later  times 

worn  as  amulets. 

SPECIMEN  CASIJ. 
1  he  golden  age  of  China  s  later  ancient  literature,  the 

period  of  the  Tang  dynasty  (620-907  A.D.),  when  the  imperial  armies  penetrated 
to  Samarcand  and  Bokhara  in  Turkestan.  Le  Taipih,  the  Chinese  Anacreon, 
the  greatest  poet  of  this  period ;  but  even  he  seldom  rises  above  mediocrity. 


CHAPTER  IV. 
HEBREW  LITERATURE. 

The  Semitic  Languages,  enumerated  on  page  16,  have  cer- 
tain peculiarities  in  common  : — 

They  are  triliteral,  i.  e.  three  consonants  enter  into  the  com- 
position of  every  root. 

Consonants  only  are  represented  by  letters ;  vowels,  indi- 
cated by  points,  play  a  subordinate  part.  The  latter  vary  ac- 


84  HEBREW   LITEEATUEE. 

cording  to  the  relation  to  be  expressed ;  while  the  consonant 
root,  which  conveys  the  leading  idea,  remains  unchanged. 
Thus,  in  Arabic,  the  notion  of  bloodshed  is  expressed  by  the 
triple  root  qtl:  quail  is  murder;  quitl^  enemy;  tiqtul  means 
to  kill ;  quatala,  he  kills.  The  picturesque  compounds,  so  con- 
venient in  the  Indo-European  languages,  are  here  wanting. 

The  Semitic  verb  is  deficient  in  mood-forms,  and  has  in 
general  only  two  tenses,  which  represent  action  completed 
and  action  continuing.  Case,  as  a  rule,  is  left  undistinguished ; 
and  grammar,  on  the  whole,  is  crude  and  imperfect.  Brevity 
is  gained,  but  at  the  expense  of  precision. 

Distribution  of  the  Semitic  Tongues. — The  terms  Arama'ic, 
Hebra'ic,  and  Ar'abic,  designate  the  three  great  divisions  of 
the  Semitic  family  of  languages ;  and  it  may  here  be  noticed 
that  these  are  much  more  alike  than  the  Aryan  tongues. 

Aramaic  (from  the  Hebrew  Aram — highlands]  was  spoken 
in  northern  Syria,  Mesopotamia,  and  Babylonia.  A  dialect 
of  it,  the  Jews  gradually  adopted  after  their  return  from  cap- 
tivity at  Babylon  (536  B.C.),  retaining  the  Hebrew  as  their 
sacred  language,  but  speaking  and  writing  in  Aramaic  some- 
what modified  by  Greek.  Aramaic,  therefore,  was  the  tongue 
in  which  our  Lord  and  his  disciples  conversed. 

The  Hebraic  was  spread  over  Palestine,  and  included  the 
ancient  Phoenician  and  Carthaginian,  with  the  dialects  of  the 
Ammonites,  Moabites,  and  Philis'tines.  Samaritan  was  a 
mixture  of  this  with  the  Aramaic  spoken  by  those  foreign  set- 
tlers introduced  into  the  land  of  Israel  by  the  Assyrians,  to 
replace  the  Ten  Tribes  whom  they  had  transplanted  beyond 
the  Euphrates. 

The  softer  Arabic,  musical  by  reason  of  its  preponderance 
of  vowel  sounds,  was  carried  from  Arabia  into  Africa,  where  it 
was  long  the  language  of  the  cultivated  Ethiopians,  and  where 
it  still  survives  in  its  derivative,  the  Abyssinian. 

The  Ancient  Hebrew  shares  the  imperfections  of  the  Semitic 


THE    SEMITIC   LANGUAGES. 


85 


PRIMCTIVE 
SEMITIC 
TONGUE 


AXCIEXT 


COPTIC  i 


EGYPTIAN 


Bafcylon  & 
Nineveh 


HEBREW 


TUB  SEMITIO  FAMILY  OF  LANGUAGES. 

group  to  which  it  belongs.  It  is  one  of  the  oldest  members 
of  this  family,  and  was  long  thought  to  have  been  the  original 
language  of  the  human  race.  Its  name  is  derived  by  some 
from  Heber,  ancestor  of  Abraham  and  consequently  of  the 
people  who  spoke  the  classical  tongue  of  the  Old  Testament ; 
while  by  many  it  is  believed  to  mean  belonging  to  the  other  side, 
that  is,  of  the  Jordan — an  epithet  applicable  to  the  Chosen 
People  as  coming  from  beyond  that  river  to  dispossess  the 
Canaanitish  tribes. 

In  the  days  of  the  patriarch  Abraham,  whose  father  dwelt 
in  "  Ur  of  the  Chaldees"  (see  Map,  p.  105)  about  2000  B.C., 

the  Semitic  dialects  differed  slightly,  if  at  all ;  for  Abraham, 

D2 


86 


HEBREW   LITERATURE. 


crossing  the  Euphrates  into  Canaan,  had  no  difficulty  in  mak- 
ing himself  understood,  and  afterward,  when  Jacob  went  back 
to  Mesopotamia,  he  conversed  readily  with  the  people. 

The  meagre  vocabulary  and  other  defects  of  the  Hebrew 
are  counterbalanced  by  its  euphony,  simplicity,  and  power  of 
poetical  expression.  Conciseness  is  its  crowning  merit.  A 
single  sonorous  word  often  conveys  an  idea  that  would  require 
a  clause  of  four  or  five  words  in  English.  The  whole  range 
of  literature  in  other  fields  affords  no  such  examples  of  majes- 
tic thought,  grand  imagery,  and  impetuous,  heart-warming  out- 
pourings of  soul,  as  the  poetry  of  that  sublime  Hebrew  tongue 
which  was  developed  by  a  simple  race  of  shepherds  beneath 
the  mild  skies  of  western  Asia. 

The  Hebrew  Alphabet. — The  Hebrews  early  profited  by  the 
invention  of  their  Phoenician  kinsmen,  borrowing  from  them 
an  alphabet  which,  as  may  be  seen  on  the  opposite  page,  they 
changed  little  from  the  original.  After  the  Captivity  (588- 
536  B.C.),  the  more  elegant  square  characters  of  the  Babylo- 
nians took  the  place  of  the  ancient  letters ;  the  latter,  how- 
ever, for  reasons  political 
as  well  as  religious,  were 
reproduced  on  the  shekels 
coined  during  the  period 
of  Jewish  independence 
under  the  Maccabees 

HEBBEW  SHEKEL.  (168-37   B.C.),  by  which 

time  the  written  language  was  universally  expressed  in  Ara- 
maic characters. 

The  oldest  Hebrew  alphabet  (see  Table)  contained  no  more 
than  ten  or  twelve  letters ;  the  number  was  afterward  in- 
creased to  twenty-two — consonants  all.  These  were  qualified 
by  vowel  sounds,  denoted  by  vowel-points  (.-  '..  .*.  T)  placed 
over  or  under  the  consonants  to  which  they  belonged.  Capi- 
tals there  were  none. — While  some  have  held  that  the  names 


H  ft       ^j 

«O         cr1 


U  55 


38  HEBREW   LITERATURE. 

of  the  letters  were  given  them  arbitrarily,  merely  to  facilitate 
the  memorizing  of  the  alphabet,  others  believe  that  a  con- 
nection existed  between  their  names  and  their  forms  :  that, 
for  example,  A,  called  Aleph  (ox),  was  originally  a  rough 
picture  of  an  ox's  head ;  that  B  was  the  representation  of  a 
house  or  tent,  such  being  the  meaning  of  its  name  Beth,  etc. 

Spirit  of  Hebrew  Poetry. — The  most  ancient  Semitic  poetry 
is  found  in  the  pure  musical  Hebrew  of  the  oldest  books  of 
the  Bible.  Nearly  one  half  of  the  Old  Testament  was  in  verse, 
mainly  lyrical,  ranging  from  the  simplest  song  or  dirge  to  the 
sublimest  strains  of  prophecy ;  yet  didactic  poetry  has  also  a 
place,  for  in  it  were  embodied  the  proverbs  of  Israel's  wise 
men. 

Other  literatures  boast  of  their  epics  and  dramas ;  but  the 
Hebrew,  without  either,  has  exerted  a  far  more  exalted  influ- 
ence on  the  human  mind  than  any  other.  In  vain  do  we 
search  the  Veda  and  the  Avesta  for  conceptions  as  grand  as 
those  in  the  Scriptures.  God  is  apprehended  in  all  his  maj- 
esty by  the  Hebrew  bards,  and  speaks  through  them  to  na- 
tions that  are  yet  to  be.  The  Bible  poets  wrote  not  merely 
for  the  purpose  of  pleasing ;  as  teachers  and  prophets,  they 
had  a  divine  mission  and  a  loftier  aim.  The  graces  of  rhetoric 
were  employed  to  present  their  impressive  subjects  in  the 
strongest  and  clearest  light.  Frequent  metaphors  embellished 
their  style,  and  striking  personifications  endowed  it  with  life 
and  energy.  Imagery  drawn  from  the  picturesque  scenes 
about  them, — the  hills,  the  streams,  the  plains  of  Palestine, — 
or  from  their  every-day  employments  as  tillers  and  herdsmen, 
they  used  without  stint ;  while  parallelism^  whether  it  consisted 
in  the  repetition  of  the  same  sentiment  or  in  a  contrasting  of 
opposite  ideas,  was  a  peculiar  beauty  of  their  poetry. 

Their  language  significant  and  striking,  their  thoughts  lofty 
and  solemn,  their  tone  severely  moral,  their  themes  of  the 
deepest  interest  to  man,  what  wonder  that  the  Hebrew  poets 


PARALLELISM   IN   HEBREW    POETRY.  89 

tower  above  the  sublimest  writers  of  other  times  and  coun- 
tries ?  "  Whatever  in  our  literature,"  says  Taylor,  "  possesses 
most  of  simple  majesty  and  force,  whatever  is  most  fully 
fraught  with  feeling,  whatever  draws  away  the  soul  from  its 
cleaving  to  the  dust  and  lifts  the  thoughts  toward  a  brighter 
sphere — all  such  elements  we  owe  directly  or  indirectly  to 
the  Hebrew  Scriptures,  especially  to  those  parts  that  are  in 
spirit  and  form  poetic." 

Parallelism  has  been  mentioned  as  a  distinctive  feature  of 
Hebrew  poetry.  This  is  defined  by  Bishop  Lowth  as  "  a  cer- 
tain equality,  resemblance,  or  relationship  between  the  mem- 
bers of  a  period,  so  that  things  shall  answer  to  things  and 
words  to  words,  as  if  fitted  to  each  other  by  a  kind  of  rule  or 
measure." 

Parallelism  may  be  either  cumulative,  antithetical,  or  con- 
structive. In  the  first,  a  proposition,  after  having  been  once 
stated,  is  repeated  in  equivalent  words  of  similar  construc- 
tion, as  in  Isaiah,  lv.,  6,  7  : — 

"  Seek  ye  the  Lord,  while  he  may  be  found ; 
Call  ye  upon  him,  while  he  is  near. 

Let  the  wicked  forsake  his  way, 

And  the  unrighteous  man  his  thoughts : 

And  let  him  return  unto  the  Lord,  and  he  will  have  mercy  upon  him  ; 
And  to  our  God,  for  he  will  abundantly  pardon." 

Antithetical  parallelism  is  similar,  except  that  the  two  pe- 
riods correspond  with  each  other  by  an  opposition  of  senti- 
ments and  terms  ;  as  in  Proverbs,  xxvii.,  6  : — 

"  Faithful  are  the  wounds  of  a  friend ; 
But  deceitful  are  the  kisses  of  an  enemy." 

In  the  third  kind  of  parallelism,  there  is  neither  correspond- 
ence nor  opposition  in  the  sentiment,  but  simply  a  similarity 
of  construction  in  the  two  periods,  as  in  Psalm  xix.,  8,  9  : — 

"The  statutes  of  the  Lord  are  right,  rejoicing  the  heart; 
The  commandment  of  the  Lord  is  pure,  enlightening  the  eyes. 


90  HEBREW  LITERATURE. 

The  fear  of  the  Lord  is  clean,  enduring  forever ; 

The  judgments  of  the  Lord  are  true  and  righteous  altogether." 

DAWN   OP   HEBREW   LITERATURE. 

There  is  good  reason  for  believing  that  the  ancient  He- 
brews had  an  extensive  literature  ;  but  out  of  their  "  multi- 
tude of  books,"  all  that  have  descended  to  us  are  those  of 
the  Old  Testament.  Their  secular  poetical  and  prose  works 
are  wholly  lost. 

The  Books  of  Moses. — The  earliest  Hebrew  writer  of  whom 
we  have  positive  knowledge  was  Moses,  author  of  the  greater 
part  of  the  Pentateuch*  (five  volumes — the  first  five  books  of 
the  Bible),  or,  as  it  was  called  by  the  Jews,  the  Book  of  the 
Law. 

The  first  book  of  the  Pentateuch,  Genesis  (the  generation), 
tells  us  all  that  we  know  of  the  Creation,  the  Deluge,  the 
Confusion  of  languages,  the  Dispersion,  and  the  lives  of  the 
patriarchs,  whose  history  it  sketches  till  the  death  of  Joseph 
in  Egypt,  keeping  everywhere  prominent  the  relation  of  Je- 
hovah to  the  chosen  race. 

Exodus  (the  going  out}  continues  the  story  of  the  Hebrews 
from  the  death  of  Joseph,  relates  their  oppression  under  the 
Pharaoh  Ram'eses  the  Great,  their  miraculous  escape  from 
the  land  of  bondage  in  the  reign  of  his  successor,  and  the 
promulgation  of  the  commandments  on  Mount  Sinai.  It  is  in 
this  book  that  we  catch  our  first  glimpse  of  Hebrew  poetry  in 


*  Some  hold  that  the  Pentateuch  was  compiled  by  Moses  from  extant  writ- 
ings of  an  earlier  period ;  others  believe  it  to  have  been  reduced  to  its  present 
form  at  a  much  later  date ;  while  many  theologians  ascribe  it  all  to  Moses,  ex- 
cept the  part  that  relates  to  his  death  and  a  few  interpolated  sentences.  Its  au- 
thenticity as  part  of  God's  Word  has  been  disputed  from  time  to  time,  and  par- 
ticularly in  these  later  days ;  but  neither  Jews  nor  Christians  doubt  its  inspira- 
tion, though  they  admit  that  in  parts  its  meaning  may  have  been  misconceived. 
We  have  here  to  do  with  it,  as  with  other  parts  of  the  Bible,  simply  as  a  literary 
work. 


THE   BOOKS   OF  MOSES.  91 

the  Song  of  Moses  and  his  sister  Miriam — a  magnificent  tri- 
umphal ode,  the  most  ancient  in  any  language.  The  rescued 
host  pour  forth  in  unison  their  joy  and  gratitude  ;  while  in 
response  the  exulting  prophetess,  timbrel  in  hand,  leads  the 
women  of  Israel,  on  the  shore  of  that  sea  which  had  engulf- 
ed their  enemies,  to  celebrate  their  deliverance  with  sacred 
dance  and  rapturous  verse.  (See  Exodus,  chapter  xv.) 

Leviticus  (the  book  pertaining  to  the  Levites)  consists  of 
regulations  relative  to  worship  and  sacrifice,  together  with 
historical  items  touching  the  consecration  of  Aaron,  his  first 
offering,  and  the  destruction  of  two  of  his  sons  for  their  im- 
piety. Here  is  developed  the  theocratic  system  that  lay  at 
the  base  of  Hebrew  society. 

Numbers  takes  its  name  from  the  numbering  of  the  Israel- 
ites in  the  wilderness  of  Sinai ;  it  gives  an  account  of  this 
census,  and  continues  their  history  during  thirty-seven  years 
of  subsequent  wandering,  up  to  their  arrival  on  the  borders 
of  the  Promised  Land.  In  this  book  there  are  several  brief 
specimens  of  poetry,  commemorative  of  victory,  of  the  digging 
of  a  well  in  the  wilderness,  etc. 

In  Deuteronomy  (the  second  law)  the  law  is  repeated  and 
explained  by  Moses  in  three  fervid  discourses,  just  before 
the  entrance  of  the  Hebrews  into  Canaan.  The  Pentateuch 
closes  with  a  simple  but  inexpressibly  grand  outburst  of  the 
Hebrew  legislator  in  song  (chapter  xxxii.),  the  blessings  he 
pronounces  upon  the  twelve  tribes,  and  an  account  of  his 
death. 

Of  the  facts  presented  in  these  first  five  books  of  the  Old 
Testament,  some  are  confirmed  by  hieroglyphic  inscriptions 
and  the  traditions  of  different  nations ;  but  of  the  greater 
part  we  should  have  had  no  knowledge  without  the  inspired 
narrative.  Aside,  therefore,  from  its  religious  bearing,  the 
Pentateuch  is  invaluable  as  an  historical  record  of  primeval 
ages  ;  while  its  clear,  concise,  dignified  style,  rich  with  noble 


92  HEBREW   LITERATURE. 

thoughts  expressed  in  the  venerable  manner  of  antiquity,  is 
worthy  of  its  sublime  subjects. 

The  Historical  Books. — The  Pentateuch  is  followed  by  the 
historical  books  of  Scripture,  which,  though  extending  into 
the  silver  age,  will  for  convenience'  sake  be  here  considered 
together.  With  the  Pentateuch  they  form  a  complete  sum- 
mary of  national  history,  in  which  are  interwoven  religious 
matters  that  explain  and  illustrate  it.  We  may  glance  briefly 
at  their  authorship  and  contents. 

The  Book  of  Joshua,  supposed  to  have  been  written  by 
Joshua  himself  or  soon  after  his  death,  covers  a  period  of 
twenty-five  years  (about  1425  B.C.) ;  it  relates  to  the  con- 
quest of  Canaan  and  the  partition  of  that  promised  land 
among  the  twelve  tribes,  closing  with  the  farewell  exhortation 
and  death  of  the  great  leader.  Judges,  ascribed  to  the 
Prophet  Samuel,  continues  the  history  of  the  nation  to  about 
noo  B.C.;  it  tells  how  the  Jews,  as  a  punishment  for  their 
apostasy,  were  at  different  times  reduced  to  servitude  by  their 
heathen  enemies,  and  on  their  repentance  delivered  by  heroes 
who  became  their  Judges.  Ruth,  regarded  by  the  ancient 
Jews  as  belonging  to  the  Book  of  Judges,  is  of  unknown  date 
and  authorship,  though  attributed  by  some  to  Samuel.  It  is 
an  exquisite  idyl  of  domestic  life,  designed  to  show  the  origin 
of  King  David. 

The  Books  of  Samuel,  the  first  portion  of  which  Samuel 
probably  composed  himself,  give  an  account  of  the  magistra- 
cy of  that  prophet  and  the  reigns  of  Saul  and  David.  The 
Books  of  the  Kings  dwell  upon  the  glorious  reign  of  Solo- 
mon, and  then  take  us  through  the  divided  lines  of  Israel  and 
Judah,  till  both  were  finally  overthrown  and  carried  into  cap- 
tivity ;  Jewish  tradition  points  to  Jeremiah  as  the  author  of 
these  books.  Ezra  seems  to  have  written  most  of  the  Chron- 
icles, which  is  supplementary  to  the  Kings  ;  he  was  also  the 
author  of  the  book  that  bears  his  name.  This  and  Nehemiah 


THE    BOOK    OP   JOB.  93 

describe  the  return  of  the  Jews  from  their  captivity  in  Baby- 
lon, and  the  restoration  of  the  temple-worship  at  Jerusalem. 
The  Book  of  Esther,  possibly  from  the  pen  of  Mordecai,  one 
of  the  personages  of  the  story,  is  devoted  to  a  touching  epi- 
sode of  the  reign  of  Ahasuerus,  king  of  Persia,  supposed  to 
be  identical  with  Xerxes,  the  son  of  Darius  Hystaspis. 

The  Book  of  Job  is  worthy  of  special  mention,  as  the  most 
artistic  specimen  of  Hebrew  genius.  Whether  this  unique 
poem  was  the  work  of  Job  himself  in  his  later  days,  or  of  some 
other  whose  name  is  lost,  its  author  was  evidently  proficient 
in  all  the  scientific  knowledge  of  his  time.  The  hero,  a  native 
of  northern  Arabia,  whose  name  has  become  a  synonym  for 
patient  suffering,  is  reduced  to  the  very  depths  by  family  be- 
reavements, bodily  anguish,  and  the  well-meant  reproaches  of 
his  friends;  yet  his  faith  in  God  is  unshaken,  and  in  the  end 
that  faith  is  amply  vindicated  and  rewarded. 

Bold  imagery,  vividness  of  description,  life-like  delineations 
of  lofty  passion  as  well  as  the  gentler  emotions,  combined 
with  master-touches  of  dramatic  art,  stamp  this  poem  as  the 
greatest  in  Oriental  literature.  Its  passages  relating  to  the 
war-horse,  behemoth,  and  leviathan  (chapters  xxxix.,  xl.,  xli.), 
are  cited  by  writers  on  the  sublime  as  among  the  grandest  il- 
lustrations of  their  subject;  and  its  descriptions  of  the,Deity, 
as  manifested  in  his  works,  exhibit  the  noblest  conceptions  of 
the  Infinite  that  man's  finite  intellect  is  capable  of  forming. 

GOLDEN  AGE  OF  HEBREW  POETKY. 

The  Psalms. — The  flourishing  period  of  DAVID  (1085-1015 
B.C.)  ushers  in  the  Augustan  age  of  Hebrew  poetry.  The 
Lyric  was  then  carried  to  perfection  by  the  poet-king  himself 
and  his  contemporaries  in  their  Psalms, — "  those  delicate,  fra- 
grant, and  lovely  flowers,"  as  Luther  calls  them,  "springing 
up  out  of  all  manner  of  beautiful  joyous  thoughts  toward  God 
and  his  goodness."  The  strains  of  "  Israel's  sweet  psalmist," 


94  HEBREW    LITERATURE. 

who  began  as  a  shepherd-lad  to  cultivate  the  arts  of  music  and 
poetry,  breathe  a  spirit  of  plaintive  tenderness  that  distin- 
guishes them  from  the  statelier  productions  of  other  contrib- 
utors to  Hebrew  psalmody. 

A  Utopian  theory  of  the  great  Plato,  but  one  that  he  declared 
could  be  carried  out  only  by  "  a  god  or  some  divine  one,"  was 
the  training  of  the  Grecian  youth  in  odes  like  the  Psalms :  and 
this — the  religious  instruction  of  the  people — was  the  very  ob- 
ject of  the  Hebrew  lyrics.  The  plan  of  the  Greek  philoso- 
pher had  been  put  in  practice  centuries  before  his  day  in  Pal- 
estine, and  on  a  far  grander  scale  than  ever  he  imagined.  In 
the  royal  city  of  Jerusalem,  four  thousand  musicians  appointed 
by  David  chanted  hymns  of  triumph  and  praise,  to  the  accom- 
paniment of  harp  and  flute ;  while  in  the  gorgeous  temple  of 
David's  son,  the  sublime  worship  of  Jehovah  challenges  de- 
scription. 

For  three  thousand  years,  these  Hebrew  anthems,  unap- 
proached  by  the  religious  songs  of  any  other  age  or  people, 
have  been  the  glory  of  the  Jewish  and  the  Christian  Church, 
eloquently  testifying  that  "  there  has  been  one  people  among 
the  nations — one  among  the  millions  of  the  worshippers  of 
stocks — taught  of  God." 

Most  of  the  Psalms  date  from  David's  time ;  but  one  (Psalm 
xc.)  carries  us  as  far  back  as  Moses,  and  others  were  as  late 
as  the  Captivity;  they  thus  cover  a  period  of  nearly  ten  cen- 
turies. They  were  probably  arranged  as  we  now  have  them 
in  the  fifth  century  B.C. 

Elegiac  Poetry. — King  David  was  also  a  writer  of  elegy, 
that  kind  of  song  in  which  the  Hebrew  poets  and  proph- 
ets poured  out  their  grief  in  the  unaffected  language  of 
nature.  Some  of  his  Psalms  are  beautiful  specimens  of 
this  species  of  poetry,  especially  Psalm  xlii.,  "As  the  hart 
panteth  after  the  water -brooks,"  composed  during  his  exile 
among  the  mountains  of  Lebanon.  Another  exquisite  and 


ELEGIAC  POETRY.  95 

pathetic  elegy  of  this  poet,  rendered  below  in  English  verse 
by  Lowth,  is  the 

LAMENTATION  FOE  SAUL  AND  JONATHAN. 

"  Thy  glory,  Israel,  droops  its  languid  head, 

On  Gilboa's  heights  thy  rising  beauty  dies ; 
In  sordid  piles  there  sleep  the  illustrious  dead, 
The  mighty  victor  fall'u  and  vanquished  lies. 

Yet  dumb  be  Grief;  hushed  be  her  clam'rous  voice! 

Tell  not  iu  Gath  the  tidings  of  our  shame ! 
Lest  proud  Philistia  in  our  woes  rejoice, 

And  rude  barbarians  blast  fair  Israel's  fame. 

The  sword  of  Saul  ne'er  spent  its  force  in  air; 

The  shaft  of  Jonathan  brought  low  the  brave ; 
In  life  united  equal  fates  they  share, 

In  death,  united  share  one  common  grave. 

Daughters  of  Judah !  mourn  the  fatal  day, 
In  sable  grief  attend  your  monarch's  urn  ; 

To  solemn  notes  attune  the  pensive  lay, 

And  weep  those  joys  that  never  shall  return. 

With  various  wealth  he  made  your  tents  o'erflow, 
In  princely  pride  your  charms  profusely  dressed; 

Bade  the  rich  robe  with  ardent  purple  glow, 
And  sparkling  gems  adorn  the  tissued  vest. 

On  Gilboa's  heights  the  mighty  vanquished  lies, 
The  son  of  Saul,  the  generous  and  the  just; 

Let  streaming  sorrow  ever  fill  these  eyes, 
Let  sacred  tears  bedew  a  brother's  dust. 

Thy  firm  regard  revered  thy  David's  name, 

And  kindest  thoughts  in  kindest  acts  expressed ; 

Not  brighter  glows  the  pure  and  generous  flame 
That  lives  within  the  tender  virgin's  breast. 

But  vain  the  tear  and  vain  the  bursting  sigh, 
Though  Sion's  echoes  with  our  grief  resound ; 

The  mighty  victors  fall'u  and  vanquished  lie, 
And  war's  refulgent  weapons  strew  the  ground." 

Didactic  Poetry.  —  In  the  golden  age,  didactic  poetry  also 
reached  the  acme  of  perfection.     The  Proverbs  that  then 


96  HEBREW    LITER ATUBE. 

flowed  from  the  inspired  pen  of  SOLOMON,  prince  of  didactic 
writers  as  his  father  was  of  lyric  poets,  are  too  well  known, 
with  all  their  richness  of  practical  wisdom,  to  require  more  than 
a  passing  mention.  Expressed  concisely  in  energetic  words, 
according  to  the  different  forms  of  parallelism,  these  moral  pre- 
cepts are  indeed  "like  apples  of  gold  in  baskets  of  silver." 

Of  the  same  general  scope  as  the  Proverbs,  and  by  the  same 
author,  is  Ecclesiastes,  or  the  Preacher.  In  this  book  is  shown 
the  vanity  of  earthly  pleasures ;  and  the  whole  duty  of  man 
is  summed  up  in  the  sentence,  "  Fear  God  and  keep  his  com- 
mandments." The  Book  of  Ecclesiastes  has  been  attributed 
to  Solomon's  latter  days ;  the  Proverbs,  to  his  prime ;  while 
that  sweet  pastoral,  the  Song  of  Songs — singularly  beautiful, 
whether  taken  literally  as  an  exponent  of  happy  wedded  love, 
or  allegorically  as  delineating  the  mutual  attachment  of  God 
and  his  people — was  the  joyous  outburst  of  his  youth.  Solo- 
mon was  also  the  author  of  a  thousand  canticles  and  various 
works  on  miscellaneous  subjects  ;  books  of  making  which,  he 
tells  us,  there  was  no  end. 

Prophetic  Poetry  of  the  Golden  Age. — The  writings  of  the 
earlier  prophets,  florid  with  high-wrought  imagery,  revived  for 
a  time  the  waning  glories  of  the  golden  age.  Foremost  of  this 
class  in  eloquence  of  diction,  sublimity  of  thought,  and  versa- 
tility of  genius,  stands  ISAIAH.  Majesty  united  with  elaborate 
finish;  a  harmony  that  delights  the  soul;  a  variety  that  im- 
parts freshness  without  detracting  from  dignity;  simplicity  and 
unvarying  purity  of  language, — conspire  to  make  the  lyric 
verse  of  "  the  Evangelical  Prophet "  the  most  appropriate  em- 
bodiment of  the  awful  messages  of  God  to  the  Jews,  the  prom- 
ise of  a  Messiah  and  universal  peace. 

After  a  career  of  nearly  seventy  years,  Isaiah  sealed  his 
great  work  with  his  blood  in  the  reign  of  the  idolatrous  Ma- 
nasseh  (698-643  B.C.).  His  mind  has  been  pronounced  "  one 
of  the  most  sublime  and  variously  gifted  instruments  which 


THE   PROPHETIC   WRITINGS.  97 

the  Spirit  of  God  has  ever  employed  to  pour  forth  its  Voice 
upon  the  world." 

Even  the  minor  prophets,  if  we  except  Jonah  the  oldest,  ex- 
hibit in  their  compositions  unwonted  grandeur  and  elegance  : 
Hosea,  with  his  sententious  style ;  Amos,  "  the  herdman  and 
gatherer  of  sycamore  fruit ;"  Joel  and  Micah ;  Habakkuk, 
whose  fervent  prayer  to  the  Almighty  is  graced  with  the  lof- 
tiest embellishments,  and  Nahum,  perhaps  the  boldest  and 
most  ardent  of  all. 

And  so  the  Golden  Age  of  Hebrew  Literature  ends.  We 
know  only  its  sacred  poetry,  and  much  indeed  of  this  has  dis- 
appeared.* The  harvest  and  vintage  songs  which  wakened 
the  echoes  amid  the  vales  of  Palestine,  the  pastorals  that  ac- 
companied the  shepherd's  pipe  on  the  hill-sides  of  Ephraim, 
all  are  lost  forever;  "  the  voice  of  mirth  and  the  voice  of  glad- 
ness, the  voice  of  the  bridegroom  and  the  bride,"  were  forgot- 
ten in  the  streets  of  Jerusalem,  when  the  land  was  desolate 
under  the  Babylonian  and  "the  daughters  of  music  were 
brought  low." 

SILVER   AGE. 

The  Prophets. — The  names  of  three  great  prophets — Jere- 
miah, Ezekiel,  and  Daniel — illuminate  the  first  page  in  the 
history  of  the  decline  of  Hebrew  literature.  But  in  their  writ- 
ings, and  notably  so  in  those  of  the  later  minor  prophets,  po- 
etry was  evidently  on  the  wane.  They  lived  in  a  degenerate 
day.  About  half  of  the  prophecy  of  Jeremiah,  denouncing  the 
judgment  of  Heaven  on  the  disobedient  people,  is  poetry;  he 
lacks  the  pomp  and  majesty  of  Isaiah,  but  excels  in  stirring 
the  gentler  emotions. 

His  Lamentations  are  beautiful  elegies  on  the  fall  of  his 
country  and  the  desecration  of  the  temple;  every  letter  seems 
"  written  with  a  tear  and  every  word  the  sound  of  a  broken 

*  For  example,  the  Book  of  Jasher,  which  appears  to  have  been  a  collection  of 
songs  iu  praise  of  the  just  and  upright— the  subject  of  endless  discussions. 


98 


HEBREW    LITERATURE. 


heart."  The  verses  of  the  several  chapters  in  the  original  be- 
gin with  consecutive  letters  of  the  alphabet,  that  they  may  be 
the  more  easily  memorized,  for  it  was  intended  that  the  sins 
and  sufferings  of  the  Jewish  nation  should  never  be  forgotten. 
Can  anything  be  more  touching  than  the  personification  of 
Jerusalem,  sitting  as  a  solitary  widow  on  the  ground  and 
mourning  for  her  children  ? 

"Is  this  nothing  to  all  you  who  pass  along  the  way  ?  behold  and  see 
If  there  be  any  sorrow  like  unto  iny  sorrow,  which  is  inflicted  on 

me ; 
Which  Jehovah  inflicted  on  me  in  the  day  of  the  violence  of  his 

wrath . 

For  these  things  I  weep,  my  eyes  stream  with  water, 
Because  the  comforter  is  far  away  that  should  tranquillize  my  soul. 
My  children  are  desolate,  because  the  enemy  was  strong." 

Ezekiel  and  Daniel  were  carried  captives  to  Babylon,  where 
they  made  known  their  prophetic  visions.  The  former  wrote 
partly  in  poetry,  characterized  by  a  rough  vehemence  peculiar 
to  himself.  The  Book  of  Daniel,  in  which  history  is  combined 
with  prophecy,  is  in  prose,  and  a  portion  of  it  in  the  Chaldee 
language. 

Another  writer  of  distinguished  merit,  belonging  to  this  age, 
was  the  scribe  and  priest  Ezra  (already  mentioned),  who  was 


THE  Toiiu  OF  EZUA. 


THE    APOCRYPHA.  99 

permitted  to  return  from  Babylon  to  Jerusalem  with  a  com- 
pany of  his  people,  458  B.C.  He  settled  the  canon  of  Script- 
ure, restoring  and  editing  the  whole  of  the  Old  Testament. 

The  Apocrypha  (secret  writings)  consist  chiefly  of  the  stories 
of  To'bit  and  Judith,  the  first  and  second  books  of  Esdras  and 
of  the  Maccabees,  Ba'ruch,  the  Wisdom  of  Solomon,  and  Ec- 
clesiasticus  or  the  Wisdom  of  the  Son  of  Sirach.  Composed 
during  the  three  centuries  immediately  preceding  the  Christian 
Era,  they  bear  internal  evidence,  in  their  lack  of  the  ancient 
poetical  power,  of  belonging  to  an  age  of  literary  decline. 
They  were  mostly  included  in  the  canon  of  Scripture  by  the 
Council  of  Trent  in  1545,  but  are  rejected  by  Protestants  as 
uninspired. 

Ecclesiasticus,  best  of  the  Apocryphal  books,  is  full  of 
moral,  political,  and  religious  precepts,  its  object  being  to 
teach  true  wisdom  and  its  style  resembling  the  didactic  poetry 
of  Solomon.  The  following  fine  passage,  versified  by  Lowth, 

personifies 

WISDOM. 

"Wisdom  shall  raise  her  loud  exulting  voice, 
And  midst  her  people  glory  and  rejoice ; 
Oft  the  Almighty's  awful  presence  near, 
Her  dulcet  sounds  angelic  choirs  shall  hear. 

Me  before  time  itself  He  gave  to-day, 

Nor  shall  my  spirit  faint  or  feel  decay  ; 

I  bowed  before  Him  in  His  hallowed  shrine, 

Aud  Sion's  pride  aud  Sion's  strength  was  mine. 

Did  I  not  tall  as  those  fair  cedars  grow, 

Which  grace  our  Lebanon's  exalted  brow  ? 

Did  I  not  lofty  as  the  cypress  rise, 

Which  seems  from  Hermon's  heights  to  meet  the  skies? 

Fresh  as  Engaddi's  palm  that  scents  the  air, 

Like  rose  of  Jericho,  so  sweet,  so  fair ; 

Green  as  the  verdant  olive  of  the  groves, 

Straight  as  the  plane-tree  which  the  streamlet  loves, 

Richer  than  vineyards  rise  my  sacred  bowers, 

Sweeter  than  roses  bloom  my  vernal  flowers ; 

Fair  love  is  mine,  and  hope,  and  geutle  fear ; 

Me  science  hallows,  as  a  pareut^lear. 


100  HEBREW   LITEKATUKE. 

Come,  who  aspire  beneath  my  shade  to  live ; 
Come,  all  my  fragrance,  all  my  fruits  receive ! 
Sweeter  than  houey  are  the  strains  I  sing, 
Sweeter  than  honey-comb  the  dower  I  bring  ; 
Me,  taste  who  will,  shall  feel  increased  desire, 
Who  drinks  shall  still  my  flowing  cups  require; 
He  whose  firm  heart  my  precepts  still  obeys, 
With  safety  walks  through  life's  perplexing  maze  ; 
Who  cautious  follows  where  my  footsteps  lead, 
No  cares  shall  feel,  110  mighty  terrors  dread. 

Small  was  my  stream  when  first  I  rolled  along, 
In  clear  meanders  Eden's  vales  among ; 
With  fresh'uing  draughts  each  tender  plant  I  fed, 
And  bade  each  flow'ret  raise  its  blushing  head ; 
But  soon  my  torrent  o'er  its  margin  rose, 
Where  late  a  brook,  behold  an  ocean  flows ! 
For  Wisdom's  blessings  shall  o'er  earth  extend, 
Blessings  that  know  no  bound,  that  know  110  end." 

The  Talmud. — Our  treatise  would  be  incomplete  without 
some  notice  of  the  mysterious  book  whose  name  heads  this 
paragraph, — the  Talmud.  Comparatively  unknown  except  in 
name  for  centuries,  it  was  repeatedly  suppressed  in  the  Dark 
Ages  by  popes,  kings,  and  emperors,  as  likely  to  be  danger- 
ous to  Christianity. 

Talmud  means  learning.  It  is  essentially  a  digest  of  law, 
civil  and  criminal,  and  a  collection  of  traditions  orally  pre- 
served. It  consists  of  two  parts,  viz.,  the  Mishna,  or  earlier 
text;  and  the  Gemara  (ghe-mah'ra)^  a  commentary  on  the 
Mishna.  The  age  that  gave  birth  to  the  Talmud  was  the 
period  after  the  Captivity,  when  a  passionate  love  for  their 
sacred  and  national  writings  animated  the  Jews  restored  to 
their  country  and  its  institutions.  Hundreds  of  learned  men, 
all  great  in  their  day,  who  treasured  in  their  memories  the 
traditions  of  a  thousand  years,  contributed  to  its  pages. 

The  Talmud  was  a  cyclopaedia  treating  of  every  subject, 
even  down  to  gardening  and  the  manual  arts ;  it  depicts  inci- 
dentally the  social  life  of  the  people,  not  of  the  Jews  alone, 
but  of  other  nations  also.  *It  is  enlivened  by  parables,  jests, 


THE   TALMUD.  101 

and  fairy-tales,  ethical  sayings,  and  proverbs  ;  the  style  is  now 
poetical,  anon  sublime ;  and  there  may  be  gathered  amid  its 
wilderness  of  themes  "  some  of  the  richest  and  most  precious 
fruits  of  human  thought  and  fancy." 

After  two  unsuccessful  attempts,  the  Talmud  was  finally 
systemized  in  a  code  by  the  Saint  Jehuda  (about  200  A.D.). 
A  remarkable  correspondence  exists  between  it  and  the  Gos- 
pel writings,  explained  by  the  fact  that  both  reflect  in  a  meas- 
ure the  same  times. 

EXTRACTS  FROM  THE  TALMUD. 

"Tuvii  the  Bible  and  turn  it  again,  for  everything  is  in  it. 

Bless  God  for  the  evil  as  well  as  the  good.  When  you  hear  of  a 
death,  say  '  Blessed  is  the  righteous  Judge.' 

Eveu  when  the  gates  of  heavcu  are  shut  to  prayer,  they  are  open 
to  tears. 

Wheu  the  righteous  die,  it  is  the  earth  that  loses.  The  lost  jewel 
•will  always  bo  a  jewel,  but  the  possessor  Avho  has  lost  it — well  may 
he  weep. 

Life  is  a  passing  shadow,  says  the  Scripture.  Is  it  the  shadow  of 
a  tower,  of  a  tree  ?  A  shadow  that  prevails  for  a  while  ?  No,  it  is 
the  shadow  of  a  bird  in  his  flight ;  away  flies  the  bird,  aud  there  is 
neither  bird  nor  shadow. 

Teach  thy  tongue  to  say, '  I  do  not  know.' 

If  a  -word  spoken  in  its  time  is  worth  one  piece  of  money,  silence 
in  its  time  is  worth  two. 

The  ass  complains  of  the  cold  even  in  July. 

Four  shall  not  enter  Paradise :  the  scoffer,  the  liar,  the  hypocrite, 
and  the  slanderer.  To  slander  is  to  murder. 

The  camel  wanted  to  have  horns,  aud  they  took  away  his  ears. 

Thy  friend  has  a  friend,  and  thy  friend's  friend  has  a  friend :  be 
discreet. 

The  soldiers  fight,  and  the  kings  are  heroes. 

Love  your  wife  like  yourself,  honor  her  more  than  yourself. 
Whoso  lives  unmarried,  lives  without  joy,  without  comfort,  without 
blessing.  Ho  who  forsakes  the  love  of  his  youth,  God's  altar  weeps 
for  him.  It  is  woman  alone  through  whom  God's  blessings  arc 
vouchsafed  to  a  house.  She  teaches  the  children,  speeds  the  hus- 
band to  the  place  of  worship,  welcomes  him  when  he  returns,  keeps 
the  house  godly  and  pure,  and  God's  blessings'rest  upon  all  these 
things.  He  who  marries  for  money,  his  children  shall  be  a  curse  to 
him. 

Men  should  bo  careful  lest  they  cause  women  to  weep,  for  God 
counts  their  tears.  -,, 


102  HEBREW   LITERATURE. 

The  world  is  saved  by  the  breath  of  school -children. 

When  the  thief  has  no  opportunity  of  stealing,  he  considers  him. 
self  au  honest  man.  The  thief  invokes  God  while  he  breaks  into  tho 
house. 

Get  your  living  by  skinning  carcasses  in  the  street,  if  you  cannot 
otherwise;  and  do  not  say,  'I  am  a  great  man,  this  work  would  not 
befit  my  dignity.'  Not  the  place  honors  the  man,  but  the  man  the 
place. 

Youth  is  a  garland  of  roses ;  age  is  a  crown  of  thorns. 

The  day  is  short  and  the  work  is  great.  It  is  not  incumbent 
upon  thee  to  complete  the  work :  but  thou  must  not  therefore  cease 
from  it.  If  thou  hast  worked  much,  great  shall  be  thy  reward  ;  for 
the  Master  who  employed  thee  is  faithful  in  his  payment.  But  know 
that  the  true  reward  is  not  of  this  world." — DEUTSCH. 


RETURNING  THE  JEWELS. 

"Rabbi  Meir,  the  great  teacher,  was  sitting  on  the  Sabbath-day 
and  instructing  the  people  in  the  Synagogue.  In  the  meantime,  his 
two  sons  died ;  they  were  both  fine  of  growth  and  enlightened  in  tho 
law.  His  wife  carried  them  into  the  attic,  laid  them  on  the  bed,  and 
spread  a  white  cloth  over  their  dead  bodies. 

In  the  evening,  Rabbi  Meir  came  home.  'Where  are  my  sons,'  in- 
quired he,  '  that  I  may  give  them  my  blessing  ?' — '  They  went  to  tho 
Synagogue,'  was  the  reply. — '  I  looked  round/  returned  he, '  and  did 
not  perceive  them.' 

She  reached  him  a  cup ;  he  praised  the  Lord  at  the  close  of  the 
Sabbath,  drank,  and  asked  again,  'Where  are  my  sons,  that  they 
also  may  drink  of  the  wine  of  blessing?' — 'They  cannot  be  far  off,' 
said  she,  and  set  before  him  something  to  eat.  When  he  had  given 
thanks  after  the  repast,  she  said:  'Rabbi,  grant  me  a  request.' — 
'  Speak,  my  love !'  answered  he. 

'  A  few  days  ago,  a  person  gave  me  some  jewels  to  take  care  of,  and 
now  he  asks  for  them  again ;  shall  I  give  them  back  to  him  ?' — 
'This  my  wife  should  not  need  to  ask,'  said  Rabbi  Meir.  '  Wouldst 
thou  hesitate  to  return  every  one  his  own  ?' — '  Oh  !  no,'  replied  she, 
'  but  I  would  not  return  them  without  thy  knowledge.' 

Soon  after  she  led  him  to  the  attic,  approached,  and  took  the  cloth 
off  the  dead  bodies.  'Oh!  my  sons!'  exclaimed  the  father  sorrow- 
fully, '  My  sons !'  She  turned  away  and  wept. 

At  length  she  took  his  hand,  and  said:  'Rabbi,  hast  thou  not 
taught  me  that  we  must  not  refuse  to  return  that  which  hath  been 
intrusted  to  our  care  ?  Behold,  the  Lord  gave  and  the  Lord  hath 
taken  away;  praised  be  the  name  of  the  Lord.' 

'The  name  of  the  Lord  be  praised!'  rejoined  Rabbi  Meir.  'It  is 
well  said :  He  who  hath  a  virtuous  wife  hath  a  greater  treasure  thau 


EXTKACTS    FKOAI   T1IE   TALMUD.  103 

costly  pearls.     She  openeth  her  mouth  -with  wisdom,  and  on  her 
touguo  is  the  law  of  kiuduess.' " 


THE  PAINTED  FLOWERS. 

"The  power  of  Solomou  had  spread  his  wisdom  to  the  remotest 
parts  of  the  kuown  world.  Queen  Sheba,  attracted  by  the  splendor 
of  his  reputation,  visited  this  poetical  king  at  his  own  court.  There, 
one  day,  to  exercise  the  sagacity  of  the  monarch,  Sheba  presented 
herself  at  the  foot  of  the  throne :  in  each  hand  she  held  a  wreath ; 
the  one  was  composed  of  natural,  and  the  other  of  artificial  flowers. 
Art,  in  constructiug  the  mimetic  wreath,  had  exquisitely  emulated 
the  lively  hues  of  nature  ;  so  that,  at  the  distance  it  was  held  by  the 
queen  for  the  inspection  of  the  king,  it  was  deemed  impossible  for 
him  to  decide,  as  her  question  required,  which  wreath  was  the  pro- 
duction of  nature,  and  which  the  work  of  art. 

The  sagacious  Solomon  seemed  perplexed ;  yet  to  bo  vanquished, 
though  in  a  trifle,  by  a  trifling  woman,  irritated  his  pride.  The  sou 
of  David,  he  who  had  written  treatises  on  the  vegetable  productions 
'  from  the  cedar  to  the  hyssop,'  to  acknowledge  himself  outwitted  by 
a  woman,  with  shreds  of  paper  and  glazed  paintings !  The  honor  of 
the  monarch's  reputation  for  divine  sagacity  seemed  diminished,  and 
the  whole  Jewish  court  looked  solemn  and  melancholy. 

At  length  an  expedient  presented  itself  to  the  kiug ;  and  one,  it 
must  be  confessed,  worthy  of  the  naturalist.  Observing  a  cluster  of 
bees  hovering  about  a  window,  he  commanded  that  it  should  bo 
opened.  It  was  opened ;  the  bees  rushed  into  the  court,  and  alighted 
immediately  on  one  of  the  wreaths,  while  not  a  single  one  fixed  on 
the  other.  The  baffled  Sheba  had  one  more  reason  to  bo  astonished 
at  the  wisdom  of  Solomon." — DISRAELI. 


NOTES  ON  WRITING,  EDUCATION,  ETC.,  AMONG  THE   HEBREWS. 

The  art  of  writing  practised  by  the  Hebrews  at  a  very  remote  period.  In 
primitive  times,  records  of  important  events  cut  in  stone;  the  letters  sometimes 
filled  with  plaster  or  melted  lead.  Engraving  also  practised  with  the  stylus  on 
rough  tablets  of  boxwood,  earthenware,  or  bone.  Leather  early  employed;  the 
Law  written  on  skins  (of  "  clean  animals  or  birds  ")  in  golden  characters.  The 
skins  rolled  round  one  or  two  wooden  cylinders,  the  scroll  then  tied  with  a  thread 
and  sealed.  Parchment  written  on  with  reed  pens,  which,  together  with  a  knife 
for  sharpening  them  and  an  ink  of  lamp-black  dissolved  in  gall-juice,  were  car- 
ried in  an  inkhorn  suspended  from  the  girdle.  Letter-writing  in  vogue  from  the 
time  of  David. 

Many  ancient  Jewish  cities  far  advanced  in  art  and  literature.     Kcudiug  anJ 


104  EDUCATION  AMONG   THE    HEBREWS. 

writing  from  the  first  not  confined  to  the  learned,  for  the  people  were  required  to 
write  precepts  of  the  Law  upon  their  door-posts,  and  on  crossing  the  Jordan  were 
commanded  to  place  certain  inscriptions  on  great  stones  very  plainly,  that  they 
might  be  read  by  all.  Scribes  in  readiness  to  serve  those  who  could  not  write. 
Schools  established  in  different  localities  in  the  prophetical  age,  in  which  "  the 
sons  of  the  prophets  "  lived  a  kind  of  monastic  life,  studying  their  laws  and  in- 
stitutions along  with  poetry  and  music. 

After  the  Captivity,  education  recognized  as  all-important,  and  at  length  made 
compulsory.  The  Jews  in  consequence  soon  noted  for  learning  and  scholarship. 
$2,500,000  paid  by  Ptolemy  Philadelphia  (2GO  B.C.)  to  seventy  Jewish  doctors 
for  translating  the  Old  Testament  into  Greek,  at  Alexandria ;  hence  the  Septua- 
yint,  as  it  is  called,  or  version  of  the  Seventy.  By  80  B.C..  Palestine  filled  with 
nourishing  schools.  Jerusalem  was  destroyed  because  the  instruction  of  the  young 
was  neglected — Revere  a  teacher  even  more  than  your  father — A  scholar  is  greater 
than  a  prophet — common  sayings  among  the  Jews.  Colleges  maintained  where 
lectures  were  delivered,  and  the  Socratic  method  of  debate  was  pursued.  Every 
student  trained  to  some  trade,  the  ripest  scholars  working  with  their  own  hands 
as  tent-makers,  weavers,  carpenters,  bakers,  cooks,  etc.  A  large  library  at  Jeru- 
salem composed  of  volumes  in  history,  royal  letters,  and  various  works  of  the 
prophets.  The  most  learned  of  the  later  Platonists  the  Jew  Phi'lo  (20  B.C.-50 
A.D.),  who  tried  to  reconcile  the  Platonic  philosophy  with  the  teachings  of  the 
Hebrew  Scriptures. 

Kiddles,  enigmas,  and  play  upon  words,  the  chief  sources  of  amusement  among 
the  Hebrews.  Dice  mentioned  in  the  Talmud.  Public  games  unknown.  Fish- 
ing with  nets  and  hooks,  favorite  sports.  Dancing  practised  as  a  religious  rite; 
the  stage  on  which  it  was  performed  in  the  temples  styled  the  choir:  each  Psalm 
perhaps  accompanied  by  a  suitable  dance. 


CHAPTER  V. 

CHALDEAN,  ASSYRIAN,  ARABIC,  AND  PHCENICIAN 
LITERA  TURES. 

Cuneiform  Letters. — North  of  the  Persian  Gulf,  and  drained 
by  the  rivers  Euphrates  and  Tigris,  lay  Chalde'a,  or  Babylo- 
nia, the  "Land  of  Shi'nar  "  (country  of  the  two  rivers].  Here 
arose  the  earliest  cities,  amid  a  population  principally  Tura- 
nian and  Semitic,  with  a  limited  intermixture  of  the  Aryan 
element.  A  Semitic  dialect  prevailed  among  the  people  at 


CUNEIFORM    LETTERS. 


105 


large  ;  but  the  Turanian  Chaldees,  to  whom  Babylonia  was 
indebted  for  its  aboriginal  civilization,  through  the  centuries 
of  their  ascendency,  political  and  intellectual,  not  only  kept 
alive  their  native  tongue  in  conversation  with  each  other,  but 
inscribing  it  on  imperishable  monuments  caused  it  to  endure 
through  all  time. 


To  these  Turanians,  the  honor  of  having  invented  cuneiform 
letters  must  be  conceded ;  an  honor,  indeed,  when  we  re- 
member that  theirs  was  possibly  the  most  ancient  device  for 
embodying  human  thought.  The  characters,  variously  called 
wedge-formed,  arrow-headed,  nail-shaped,  and  swallow-tailed, 
they  appear  to  have  brought  with  them  into  the  Euphrates 
valley  from  the  more  northerly  country  which  they  previously 
occupied ;  and  their  Semitic  co-residents  in  Babylonia  were 
not  slow  in  adopting  the  ingenious  system  which  they  had 
elaborated. 

The  cuneiform  letters,  like  the  hieroglyphics,  were  at  first 
rude  representations  of  objects,  but  in  most  cases  the  resem- 
blance to  the  original  was  soon  lost  in  the  attempt  to  simplify. 
In  some  few  instances,  however,  it  may  be  readily  detected; 


106  ASSYRIO-BABYLONIAN    LITERATURE. 


as  in  -^    ^^>^t    the  character  for  fish.     The  common 


signs  eventually  acquired  phonetic  values,  the  whole  number 
of  characters  employed  amounting  to  about  four  hundred. 

When  by  the  victory  of  Alexander  at  Arbe'la  (331  B.C.)  the 
great  Persian  Empire  fell,  cuneiform  writing  ceased  to  be 
practised,  and  cuneiform  literature  was  buried  in  the  mounds 
of  Assyria  and  Babylonia  for  two  thousand  years.  During 
the  present  century,  it  has  been  disinterred  by  inquisitive 
scholars,  whose  labors  have  resulted  in  the  restoration  of  a 
forgotten  history,  through  the  wonderful  literature  of  a  peo- 
ple long  known  only  in  name. 

ASSYRIO-BABYLONIAN  LITERATURE. 

Writing  Materials. — The  cuneiform  letters  heretofore  spoken 
of  as  in  use  among  the  Persians  at  a  later  date  (p.  66)  were 
doubtless  originally  intended  to  be  cut  on  rocks  with  chisels, 
and  hence  were  angular  instead  of  round.  But  the  ancient 
Babylonians  preferred  bricks  and  tablets  of  clay,  on  which, 
when  moist  and  soft,  they  traced  their  legends,  annals,  and 
scientific  items,  with  an  ivory  or  bronze  stylus,  hardening  the 
surface  thus  inscribed  by  baking.  The  tablets,  from  one  inch 
in  length  upward,  are  pillow-shaped  and  covered  with  charac- 
ters so  minute  as  to  be  almost  illegible  without  a  glass.  After 
baking,  to  insure  their  preservation,  they  were  usually  coated 
with  thin  clay,  and  on  this  the  inscription  below  was  dupli- 
cated. 

The  Assyrians  used  similar  tablets,  and  besides  carved  their 
records  exquisitely  on  the  stone  panels  of  their  palaces,  and 
on  human-headed  bulls  of  colossal  size.  The  tablets  above 
described,  together  with  terra-cotta  cylinders,  formed  the  books 
of  this  inventive  nation,  who  also  engraved  with  wonderful 
delicacy  glass,  metals,  the  amethyst,  jasper,  and  onyx. 


CUNEIFORM   INSCRIPTIONS. 


107 


ASSTKIAN  TABLET. 


Stone  slabs  were  generally  reserved 
for  royal  inscriptions ;  the  literary 
classes  *of  Assyria  preferred  the 
cheaper  clay,  on  which  they  could 
write  more  rapidly  and  quite  as  legi- 
bly with  their  triangular  instruments. 
Something  like  paper  or  parchment 
seems  to  have  been  used  to  a  very 
limited  extent ;  but  if  so,  it  has  en- 
tirely disappeared.  It  is  also  thought 
tha£  the  Chaldeans  may  have  prac- 
tised a  simple  method  of  printing, 
as  wedge -like  types  of  stone  have 
been  found  among  the  ruins  of  their 
cities. 

Golden  Age  of  Babylonian  Litera- 
ture (2000-1550  B.C.).— Very  little  of  the  Assyrio-Babyloni- 
an  literature  has  as  yet  been  recovered.  A  mine  of  literary 
wealth  in  the  valley  of  the  Euphrates  still  awaits  the  perse- 
vering student,  for  before  2000  B.C.  important  works  were 
written  in  Chaldea.  In  the  twentieth  century,  a  golden  age 
dawned  on  this  ancient  land  ;  its  great  cities  became  centres 
of  literary  refinement,  as  well  as  of  commerce  and  art,  and 
a  lofty  poetical  style  characterized  the  writings  of  the  time. 
Standard  texts  on  religion,  science,  and  remote  history  were 
then  and  shortly  thereafter  produced,  the  copying  of  which 
appears  to  have  satisfied  the  ambition  of  subsequent  genera- 
tions. 

The  oldest  known  specimen  of  Chaldean  writing  is  a  set 
of  bricks,  discovered  near  the  site  of  E'rech  (see  Map,  p.  105). 
They  are  thought  to  have  been  made  about  2008  B.C.  As 
these  bricks  illustrate  the  most  ancient  cuneiform  character, 
two  of  them  are  here  presented,  accompanied  with  a  transla- 
tion. 


108 


ASSYRIO-BABYLONIAX   LITERATURE. 


"Beltis,  his  lady,  Jias 
caused  Urukh,  the  pious 
chief  and  king  of  Ur, 
king  of  the  land  of  Ac- 
cad,  to  build  a  temple 
to  her." 


CHA.LDEAN  BKIOKS. 


FROM  A  TABLET  OF  BABYLONIAN  LAWS. 

"  A  certain  man's  brother-in-law  hired  workmen,  and  on  his  foun- 
dation built  an  enclosure.  From  the  house  the  judge  expelled  him. 

His  father  and  his  mother  a  man  shall  not  deny. 

A  decision.  A  sou  says  to  his  mother  :  '  Thou  art  not  my  mother.' 
His  hair  is  cut  off;  in  the  city  they  exclude  him  from  earth  and  wa- 
ter, and  in  the  house  imprison  him. 

A  decision.  A  mother  says  to  her  son :  '  Thou  art  not  my  son.' 
They  imprison  her. 

A  decision.  A  woman  says  to  her  husband :  '  Thou  art  not  my 
husband.'  Into  the  river  they  throw  her. 

A  decision.  A  husband  says  to  his  wife  :  '  Thou  art  not  my  wife.' 
Haifa  ma'neh  (thirty  ounces)  of  silver  he  weighs  out  iu  payment. 

A  decision.  A  master  kills  his  slaves,  cuts  them  to  pieces,  injures 
their  offspring,  drives  them  from  the  laud.  His  hand  every  day  a 
half  measure  of  corn  measures  out." 

Babylonian  literature  was  rich  in  the  departments  of  law, 
mathematics,  astrology,  grammar,  and  history.  Nor  was 
fiction  wanting ;  fables,  in  which  the  lower  animals  carried 
on  spirited  dialogues,  were  favorites  with  the  people.  At  a 
very  early  date,  the  inscribed  tablets  and  cylinders  were  col- 
lected, and  the  chief  cities  were  made  the  seats  of  libraries. 

From  a  volume  of  Chaldean  hymns,  somewhat  similar  to 
the  Rig- Veda,  are  taken  the  following  verses  to  the  Babylo- 
nian Venus  : — 


CURIOSITIES    OF   BABYLONIAN   LITERATURE.  109 


PRAYER   OF  THE   HEART  TO   ISTAR. 

"Light  of  heaven,  who  like  the  fire  dawuest  011  the  world,  art 

thou ! 

Goddess  in  the  earth,  who  dawuest  like  the  earth,  art  thou  ! 
To  the  house  of  men  iu  thy  descending  thou  goest :  prosperity  ap- 
proaches thee. 

Day  is  thy  servant,  heaven  thy  canopy. 

Princess  of  the  four  cities,  head  of  the  sea,  heaven  is  thy  canopy. 
Exalted  of  the  Sun-god,  heaven  is  thy  canopy! 
For  my  father  the  Moon-god,  revolver  of  the  seasons,  sanctuaries  I 

build,  a  temple  I  build. 
For  my  brother  the  Sun-god,  revolver  of  the  seasons,  sanctuaries  I 

build,  a  temple  I  build. 

In  the  beginning  the  goddess  spoke  thus  to  men  : 
The  Lady  of  Heaven,  the  divinity  of  the  zenith,  am  I ! 
The  Lady  of  Heaven,  the  divinity  of  the  dawn,  am  I ! 
The  Queen  of  Heaven,  the  opener  of  the  locks  of  the  high  heaven, 

my  begetter. 

O  Istar!  Lady  of  Heaven!  may  thy  heart  rest. 
O  Lady,  Queen  of  Heaven !  may  thy  liver  be  magnified. 
O  Lady,  Queen  of  the  laud  of  the  four  rivers  of  Erech !  may  thy 

heart  rest. 

O  Lady,  Queen  of  Babylon !  may  thy  liver  be  magnified ! 
O  Lady,  Queen  of  the  Temple  of  the  Resting-place  of  the  World! 
may  thy  heart  rest." — A.  H.  SAYCE. 

The  Babylonians  believed  in  omens.  They  gathered  au- 
guries from  dreams,  inspection  of  the  hand,  the  time  of  birth, 
and  various  phenomena,  establishing  a  national  system  of  div- 
ination not  without  its  amusing  features.  For  instance,  we 
have  the  following 

OMENS  CONNECTED  WITH  DOGS. 

"If  a  blue  dog  enters  into  a  palace,  that  palace  is  burned. 

If  a  yellow  dog  enters  into  the  palace,  exit  from  that  palace  will 
be  baleful. 

If  a  spotted  dog  enters  into  the  palace,  that  palace  its  peace  to  the 
enemy  gives. 

If  a  dog  to  the  palace  goes  and  on  a  bed  lies  down,  that  palace 
none  with  his  hand  takes. 

If  a  dog  to  the  palace  goes  and  on  the  royal  parasol  lies  down,  that 
palace  its  peace  to  the  enemy  gives. 

If  a  white  dog  into  a  temple  enters,  the  foundation  ojf  that  temple 
is  not  stable. 


110  A6SYEIO-BABYLOWIAN   LITEEATTJEE. 

If  a  yellow  dog  into  a  temple  enters,  that  temple  sees  plenty. 

If  a  spotted,  dog  into  a  temple  enters,  that  temple  do  its  gods  love." 

Many  charms  and  exorcisms  appear  in  the  ancient  language 
of  Babylonia,  disease  being  attributed  to  possession  by  evil 
spirits.  Specimens  follow. 

BABYLONIAN  EXOECISMS. 

"Wasting,  want  of  health,  the  evil  spirit  of  the  nicer,  spreading 
quinsy  of  the  throat,  the  violent  and  noxious  nicer.  Spirit  of  Heav- 
en !  remember ;  Spirit  of  Earth  !  remember. 

Sickness  of  the  stomach,  sickness  of  the  heart,  palpitation  of  tho 
heart,  sickness  of  the  head,  noxious  colic,  the  agitation  of  terror,  lin- 
gering sickness,  nightmare.  Spirit  of  Heaven!  remember;  Spirit 
of  Earth!  remember. 

Poisonous  spittle  of  the  month  which,  is  noxious  to  the  voice, 
phlegm  which  is  destructive,  tubercles  of  the  lungs.  Spirit  of  Heav- 
en !  remember ;  Spirit  of  Earth !  remember." 

Chambers  of  Records  at  Nineveh. — The  Semites  who,  as  the 
sacred  historian  informs  us,  left  the  land  of  Shinar  to  found 
Nineveh  and  the  neighboring  cities,  carried  with  them  the  "civ- 
ilization and  literary  culture  of  the  Chaldeans.  The  earliest 
permanent  seat  of  letters  was  Ca'lah  (see  Map,  p.  105),  where, 
during  the  reign  of  Shalmane'ser  II.  (858-823  B.C.)  many 
clay  tablets  borrowed  from  the  Babylonians  were  copied  by 
Assyrian  scribes.  This  same  king  erected  at  Calah  an  obe- 
lisk of  black  marble,  containing  a  narrative  of  his  wars  illus- 
trated by  reliefs — one  of  the  few  Assyrian  monuments  of  its 
kind  commemorative  of  national  triumphs. 

The  library  thus  begun  at  Calah  was  enlarged  under  suc- 
ceeding kings.  Removed  at  length  to  Nineveh,  it  there  at- 
tained vast  proportions  through  the  efforts  of  that  munifi- 
cent patron  of  literature,  Sardanapa'lus  II.,  Assyria's  greatest 
monarch  (667-647  B.C.).  The  number  of  engraved  tablets 
reached  ten  thousand. 

Here  were  grammars*  and  lexicons,  law-books  and  scien- 


*  The  grammatical  literature  of  the  Assyrians  is  equalled  only  by  that  of  the 
Hindoos  and  the  Greeks. 


LITERAKY   TREASURES    OF   XINEVEII. 


Ill 


tific  treatises,  histories,  astro- 
nomical and  arithmetical 
works,  songs,  prayers,  hymns 
sometimes  approaching  the 
Hebrew  sacred  lyrics  in  sub- 
limity, books  of  charms  and 
omens,  natural  histories,  bot- 
anies, and  geographies  —  a 
complete  encyclopaedia  of  an- 
cient literature.  The  books 
of  this  curious  collection  were 
carefully  arranged  according 
to  their  subjects,  numbered, 
catalogued,  and  placed  in 
charge  of  librarians.  They 
were  public  property,  intend- 
ed for  the  instruction  of  the 
people. 

Such  was  the  library  of  Sar- 
danapalus  —  principally  cop- 
ied from  Babylonian  texts ; 
such,  it  was  buried  beneath  the  ruins  of  the  palace  when  "the 
gates  of  the  rivers  were  opened  and  Nineveh  became  a  deso- 
lation ;"  such,  it  lay  amid  the  debris  for  centuries,  "  while  the 
cormorant  and  the  bittern  lodged  in  the  upper  lintels." 

But  the  mounds  that  so  long  covered  the  site  of  Nineveh 
have  recently  surrendered  their  treasures..  Clouds  that  envi- 
roned the  history  of  the  past  have  been  dissipated;  ancient 
nations,  for  ages  wrapped  in  obscurity,  we  no  longer  "see 
through  a  glass,  darkly ;"  and  the  narrative  of  the  inspired 
writers  of  the  Bible  has  been  in  many  places  confirmed  by  the 
inscriptions  disentombed  in  the  East.  Among  the  most  inter- 
esting fragments  found  scattered  through  the  ruined  "  Cham- 
bers of  Records  "  of  the  Assyrian  palace,  are  the  tablets  relat- 

E  2 


BLACK  OBE: 


112  ASSYRIO-BABYLONIAN   LITERATURE. 

ing  to  the  Creation,  the  Fall  of  Man,  and  the  Deluge,  copied 
from  Babylonian  records  hundreds  of  years  older  than  the 
Pentateuch. 

FROM  THE  CHALDEAN  ACCOUNT  OF  THE  DELUGE. 

(Compiled  originally  about  2000  B.C.) 

"  The  flood  reached  to  heaven :  the  bright  earth  to  a  waste  was 
turned.  It  destroyed  all  life  from  the  face  of  the  earth,  the  strong 
deluge  over  the  people.  Brother  saw  not  brother,  they  did  not  know 
the  people.  In  heaven,  the  gods  feared  the  tempest  and  sought  ref- 
uge :  they  ascended  to  the  heaven  of  the  King  of  angels  and  spirits. 

Six  days  and  nights  passed;  the  wind,  deluge,  and  storm,  over- 
whelmed. On  the  seventh  day,  in  its  course,  was  calmed  the  storm  ; 
and  all  the  deluge,  Avhich  had  destroyed  like  an  earthquake,  quieted. 
The  sea  he  caused  to  dry,  and  the  wind  and  deluge  ended. 

I  perceived  the  sea  making  a  tossing;  and  the  whole  of  mankind 
turned  to  corruption ;  like  reeds  the  corpses  floated.  I  opened  the 
window,  and  the  light  broke  over  my  face ;  it  passed.  I  sat  down 
and  wept ;  over  my  face  flowed  my  tears.  I  perceived  the  shore  at 
the  boundary  of  the  sea.  To  the  country  of  Nizir  went  the  ship. 
The  mountain  of  Nizir  stopped  the  ship  ;  and  to  pass  over,  it  was  not 
able.  The  first  day,  and  the  second  day,  the  mountain  of  Nizir  the 
same.  The  third  day,  and  the  fourth  day,  the  mountain  of  Nizir  the 
same.  The  fifth  and  sixth,  the  mountain  of  Nizir  the  same.  On  the 
seventh  day,  in  the  course  of  it,  I  sent  forth  a  dove,  and  it  left.  The 
dove  wreut  and  turned,  and  a  resting-place  it  did  not  find,  and  it  re- 
turned. 

I  sent  forth  a  swallow,  and  it  left.  The  swallow  went  and  turned, 
and  a  resting-place  it  did  not  find,  and  it  returned. 

I  sent  forth  a  raven,  and  it  left.  The  raven  went,  and  the  decrease 
of  the  water  it  saw,  and  it  did  eat,  it  swam,  and  wandered  away,  and 
did  not  return. 

I  sent  the  animals  forth  to  the  four  winds.  I  poured  out  a  liba- 
tion. I  built  an  altar  on  the  peak  of  the  mountain." — -GEORGE  SMITH. 


SPECIMENS  OF  ASSYRIAN   SACRED  POETRY. 
A   PRAYER   FOR  THE   KING. 

"  Length  of  days, 
Long,  lasting  years, 
A  strong  sword, 
A  long  life, 

Extended  years  of  glory, 
Preeminence  among  kings, 


SACRED  POETRY  OF  ASSYRIA.  113 

Grant  ye  to  the  King  my  Lord, 
"\Viio  has  given  such  gifts 
To  his  gods. 

The  bounds  vast  and  wide  of  his  empire, 
And  of  his  rule, 

May  he  enlarge  and  may  he  complete, 
Holding  over  all  kings  supremacy, 
And  royalty,  and  empire. 
May  he  attain  to  gray  hairs  and  old  age. 

And  after  the  life  of  these  days, 

In  the  feasts  of  the  Silver  Mountain,  the  heavenly  courts, 
The  abode  of  blessedness  : 
And  in  the  Light 
Of  the  Happy  Fields, 
May  he  dwell  a  life 
Eternal,  holy, 
In  the  presence  of  the  gods 
Who  inhabit  Assyria." — H.  F.  TALBOT. 

Here  is  undoubtedly  expressed  a  belief  in  the  soul's  immor- 
tality, which  also  appears  in  the  following  prayer  for  the  spirit 
of  a  dying  man : — 

"  Like  a  bird  may  it  fly  to  a  lofty  place ! 
To  the  holy  hands  of  its  god  may  it  ascend !" 


A    PENITENTIAL   PSALM. 

"  O  my  Lord !  my  sins  are  many,  my  trespasses  are  great ;  and  the 
wrath  of  the  gods  has  plagued  me  with  disease,  and  with  sickness 
and  sorrow. 

I  fainted :  but  no  one  stretched  forth  his  hand ! 

I  groaned :  but  no  one  drew  nigh  ! 

I  cried  aloud :  but  no  one  heard ! 

O  Lord !  do  not  abandon  thy  servant ! 

In  the  waters  of  the  great  storm,  seize  his  hand ! 

The  sins  which  ho  has  committed,  turn  thou  to  righteousness."— 
H.  F.  TALBOT. 

Like  their  Babylonian  kinsmen,  the  Assyrians  put  faith  in 
charms,  incantations,  and  exorcisms,  using  sometimes  magic 
ties  or  knots.  The  following  is  a  prescription  for  giving  con- 
solation in  the  hour  of  death: — 

"  Take  a  woman's  linen  kerchief;  bind  it  round  the  right  hand, 


114  ARABIC   LITERATURE. 

loose  it  from  the  left  hand.  Knot  it  with  seven  knots ;  do  so  twice. 
Sprinkle  it  with  bright  wine.  Bind  it  round  the  head  of  the  sick  man. 
Bind  it  round  his  hands  and  feet,  like  manacles  and  fetters.  Sit  down 
on  his  bed.  Sprinkle  holy  water  over  him.  He  shall  hear  the  voice 
of  Hea,  Davkina*  shall  protect  him,  and  the  Eldest  Sou  of  Heaveii 
shall  find  him  a  happy  habitation." 


TRANSLATION  OF  A  LETTER. 

(Written  in  Assyria  more  than  2,500  years  ago,  by  an  officer  named 
Bel-basa,  to  Sennacherib.) 

To  THE  KING  JIY  LORD, 

From  thy  servant  Bel-basa : 

May  there  be  peace  to  the  King  my  Lord ;  may  the  gods  Nebo  and 
Merodach  greatly  bless  the  Lord  my  King. 

Concerning  the  palace  of  the  queen  which  is  in  the  city  of  Kalzi, 
which  the  King  has  appointed  us;  the  house  is  decaying,  the  house 
is  opening  its  foundation,  its  bricks  are  bulging.  When,  will  the 
King,  our  Lord,  command  the  master  of  works  ?  An  order  let  him 
make,  that  he  may  come  and  the  foundation  that  he  may  strengthen. 

ARABIC   LITERATURE. 

Himyaritic  Inscriptions. — The  high-spirited  war -loving 
tribes  that  roved  over  the  tablelands  of  Arabia,  as  well  as  the 
more  refined  inhabitants  of  her  ports  on  the  Red  Sea,  doubt- 
less cultivated  letters.  We  may  suppose  the  former  to  have 
given  their  florid  fancies  vent  in  pastorals,  rude  songs  for  the 
desert  bivouac,  or  triumphal  odes.  More  finished  species  of 
poetry  would  have  been  congenial  to  the  courtly  residents  of 
the  cities,  whose  knowledge  of  the  world  was  extended  by 
trading  expeditions  to  India,  and  along  the  African  coast  as 
far  as  the  Mozambique  Channel. 

Yet  of  this  probable  literature  we  possess  little  that  is  older 
than  the  era  of  Mohammed  (600  A.D.),  at  which  time  the  Ara- 
bians awoke  to  a  new  life,  for  centuries  leading  the  van  of  the 
nations  in  the  march  of  literature  and  science.  But  the  little 
that  we  have  is  not  without  interest. 


God  and  goddess  of  the  sea  and  of  the  lower  regions. 


IIIMYARITIC   INSCRIPTIONS.  115 

* 

At  least' eighteen  hundred  years  before  the  Christian  Era, 
descendants  of  Joktan,  called  Sabaeans  and  afterward  Him- 
yarites,  established  themselves  in  southwestern  Arabia;  but 
not  until  about  800  B.C.  do  they  appear  to  have  gained  per- 
manent dominion  over  the  neighboring  tribes.  Inscriptions 
in  their  language,  the  Himyaritic,  a  Semitic  tongue  closely  re- 
lated to  the  Arabic,  if  not  sufficiently  like  it  to  be  called  by 
the  same  name,  have  been  found  in  the  lower  part  of  the  Ara- 
bian peninsula  on  walls,  tombs,  dikes,  and  bronze  tablets. 

These  are  the  oldest  known  Arabic  writings,  and  are  be- 
lieved by  scholars  to  represent  the  golden  age  of  the  Himya- 
rite  monarchy  (100  B.C.~5oo  A.D.).  Gems  have  also  been 
discovered,  inscribed  with  these  same  characters. 

PHCENICIAN   LITERATURE. 

Its  Lost  Treasures.— In  the  most  ancient  records,  the  nar- 
row strip  of  coast  between  the  Lib'anus  Mountains  and  the 
Mediterranean  was  recognized  as  an  important  centre  of  civ- 
ilization. Its  cities  were  seats  of  art  and  commerce ;  Africa, 
Sicily,  and  Spain,  were  dotted  with  its  colonies  and  trading- 
stations;  the  sails  of  its  merchantmen  sparkled  on  every  sea; 
its  language  was  known  throughout  the  ancient  world. 

It  cannot  be  that  a  nation  so  advanced  in  knowledge  was 
without  a  literature ;  and  if  works  on  their  philosophy  and  re- 
ligion, on  history,  geography,  navigation,  and  agriculture,  di- 
dactic poems  and  love-songs,  constitute  a  literature,  vast  in- 
deed was  that  of  the  Phoenicians.  No  department  of  science 
or  belles-lettres  appears  to  have  been  overlooked  by  their 
authors. 

The  famous  "  Book  City,"  Kir'jath-Se'pher,  which,  during 
the  conquest  of  Canaan,  was  taken  by  Othniel  the  future 
Judge,  is  thought  to  have  been  a  Phoenician  town.  Its  name 
implies  that  it  was  a  repository  of  books,  probably  public  rec- 
ords and  works  on  law — perhaps  an  Athens  to  the  nations  of 


116  PIICENICIAN   LITERATURE. 

• 

Canaan,  whither  their  youth  flocked  to  consult  its  libraries 
and  receive  instruction  at  its  academies.  Its  valuable  collec- 
tion of  manuscripts  was  doubtless  committed  to  the  flames 
by  the  Hebrew  conqueror. 

In  like  manner,  the  whole  constellation  of  Phoenician 
hymns,  and  lyrics,  and  prose  pieces,  has  become  extinct,  ex- 
cept a  lonely  star  left  here  and  there  in  the  works  of  foreign 
authors ;  or  a  faint  light  glimmering  on  some  coin  or  tablet, 
gem  or  tombstone. 

The  only  important  Phoenician  writer  known  to  us  is  San- 
choni'athon.  Fragments  of  his  History,  written  perhaps  in 
the  fourteenth  century  B.C.,  have  survived  through  a  Greek 
translation.  In  accounting  for  the  origin  of  the  universe,  San- 
choniathon  taught  the  theory  of  evolution,  that  "  from  certain 
animals  not  having  sensation,  intelligent  animals  were  pro- 
duced." 

Phoenician  Carthage  also  developed  an  extensive  literature. 
The  records  of  the  city  were  kept  by  native  historians ;  and 
we  know  that  Ma'go's  great  work  on  agriculture,  in  twenty- 
eight  parts,  was  highly  appreciated  at  Rome,  and  there  ren- 
dered  into  Latin.  When  the  city  of  Hannibal  fell  before  her 
more  powerful  rival,  her  vast  library  was  scattered  among  the 
African  allies  of  the  Romans,  and  lost  to  history. 

An  interesting  relic  of  Carthaginian  literature  is  the  Cir- 
cumnavigation of  Hanno,  the  history  of  a  voyage  undertaken 
in  the  sixth  century  B.C.  to  the  coasts  of  Libya — the  oldest 
history  of  a  voyage  existing.  This  work  of  Hanno,  which  used 
to  hang  in  a  temple  at  Carthage,  describes  a  savage  people 
called  Gorillas,  whose  bodies  were  covered  with  hair  and  who 
defended  themselves  with  stones.  The  narrator  says:  "Three 
women  were  taken,  but  they  attacked  their  conductors  with 
their  teeth  and  hands,  and  could  not  be  prevailed  on  to  ac- 
company us.  Having  killed  them,  we  flayed  them,  and 
brought  their  skins  with  us  to  Carthage." 


CHALDEAN   LEARNING.  117 


NOTES    ON    ASSYRIO-BABYLONIAN    LITERATURE. 

Oldest  Chaldean  book,  a  work  on  astrology  written  before  2000  B.C.  The 
golden  age,  2000-1850  B.C. ;  oral  traditions  collected  and  committed  to  writing ; 
tile-libraries  in  all  the  principal  Chaldean  cities.  Decline  begins  1550  B.C.  The 
term  Chaldean  long  synonymous  with  man  of  learning. 

Kise  of  Assyrian  literature,  1500  B.C. ;  confined  to  archives  and  records  for  a 
number  of  centuries.  Eenaissance  under  Sardauapalus  I.  and  his  son  Shalmane'- 
ser  II.  (885-823  B.C.).  Enlargement  of  the  national  library  in  the  reign  of  Tig'- 
lath-Pile'ser  II.  (745-727  B.C.)  and  of  Sargon  (722-705  B.C.),  followed  by  a  re- 
vival of  the  study  of  ancient  literature.  Copies  made  of  the  masterpieces  of  an- 
tiquity. Reign  of  Sardanapalus  II.  (667-647  B.C.),  the  golden  age  of  Assyrian 
letters.  Fall  of  Nineveh,  625  B.C. 

Babylon  succeeds  as  the  seat  of  power  and  the  centre  of  literature  in  western 
Asia;  attains  the  height  of  its  glory  under  Nebuchadnezzar  (604-561  B.C.). 
Great  revival  of  ancient  learning :  "  the  Lady  of  Kingdoms  "  soon  boasts  of  a  li- 
brary emulating  in  extent  and  variety  that  of  her  former  rival  Nineveh.  Little 
of  this  later  Babylonian  literature  recovered  :  its  restoration  left  for  future  labor- 
ers in  the  field  of  philology. 

During  these  centuries,  a  wild  poetry  probably  flourished  on  the  highland 
wastes  of  Arabia,  and  Phoenician  cities  attained  literary  greatness. — Coins  made 
of  British  tin,  the  money  of  Phoenician  commerce. 


CHAPTER  VI. 
EGYPTIAN  LITERATURE. 

The  Egyptian  Language. — There  yet  remains  one  field  of 
Oriental  literature  for  us  to  visit,  and  it  is  specially  interesting 
on  account  of  the  valuable  treasures  it  long  concealed.  These 
have  recently  been  brought  to  light  in  the  writings  of  that 
people  who  settled  the  fertile  valley  of  the  Nile  in  prehistoric 
times,  and  adorned  the  land  of  Egypt  with  pyramids  and 
obelisks  inscribed  with  their  mysterious  characters. 

Some  have  found  in  the  ancient  Egyptian  a  resemblance  to 
the  Indo-European  tongues,  and  argue  that  it  was  an  offshoot 
from  an  original  parent -stock  in  which  Semitic  and  Aryan 


118  EGYPTIAN   LITERATURE. 

were  blended  before  they  separated  into  distinct  languages. 
Between  the  Egyptian  and  the  Semitic  tongues,  however,  there 
is  a  much  more  striking  likeness  and  a  more  probable  rela- 
tionship. 

EGYPTIAN    WHITING. 

Hieroglyphics.  —  There  is  little  doubt  that  the  Egyptians 
practised  writing  in  the  days  of  Me'nes,  founder  of  their  mon- 
archy, more  than  forty  centuries  ago.  The  earliest  characters 
were  colored  pictures,  called  hieroglyphics  (sacred  carvings]  by 
the  Greeks,  who  erroneously  believed  them  to  have  been  used 
by  the  priestly  caste  alone.  Just  as  we  have  adapted  our  let- 
ters to  a  running  hand,  so  the  hieroglyphic  was  soon  abridged 
into  the  hieratic  character,  suitable  for  rapid  writing.  This  in 
turn,  in  the  seventh  century  B.C.,  gave  place  to  the  still  sim- 
pler demotic,  or  popular  hand,  the  letters  of  which,  mainly  pho- 
netic, bore  no  likeness  to  the  original  pictures. 

As  stated  on  page  19,  the  hieroglyphic  characters  were 
partly  pictorial  and  partly  symbolical.  Thus,  the  figure  of  a 
man  with  upraised  hands  symbolized  praise  ;  a  reed  with  an 
ink-pot,  writing  ;  an  enraged  monkey,  anger.  Day  was  de- 
noted by  a  drawing  of  the  sun  ;  bravery,  by  the  head  of  a  lion ; 
adoration,  by  a  box  with  burning  incense  ;  cunning,  by  a 
jackal.  A  frog  suggested  the  notion  of  large  numbers;  while 
a  tadpole  implied  a  million. 

This  picture  -  writing,  not  in  itself  complete,  was  supple- 
mented to  a  certain  extent  with  a  phonetic  system.  An  ob- 
ject for  which  there  was  no  appropriate  symbol  was  repre- 
sented by  the  sign  of  any  other  object  that  had  the  same 
name  when  spoken .;  as  if  we  should  denote  the  mint  where 
money  is  coined  by  a  painting  of  the  plant  so  called, — or 
pike,  both  the  weapon  and  the  fish,  by  a  picture  of  either. 
Serious  confusion  resulted  from  this  practice  ;  till  at  last  it 
fortunately  occurred  to  some  thinker  to  substitute  for  the 
numberless  symbols  and  pictures  in  use  signs  corresponding 


EGYPTIAN   HIEROGLYPHICS.  119 

to  the  few  simple  sounds  employed  in  spoken  language. 
These,  often  repeated  in  different  combinations,  would  answer 
every  requirement. 

Still  the  system  was  far  from  perfect,  for,  as  a  rule,  the 
vowel  sounds  were  not  represented  ;  only  by  the  context, 
for  instance,  could  it  be  told  whether  str  was  meant  for  star, 
store,  stair,  or  straw.  Another  difficulty  lay  in  the  fact^  that 
the  same  consonant  was  represented  by  different  signs — pict- 
ures of  objects  whose  names  commenced  with  the  letter  in 
question.  In  writing  London,  the  Egyptians  might  represent 
L  by  the  figure  of  a  /amb,  a  /eaf,  or  a  /ion.  From  this  group 
of  characters,  it  would  be  necessary  to  select  the  one  most 
appropriate  ;  the  lion  would  be  taken  for  the  /  in  London, 
the  leaf  for  the  /  in  lotus,  the  lamb  for  the  /  in  lady. 

To  add  to  the  confusion,  the  old  ideographic  characters 
were  all  the  time  measurably  used  along  with  the  phonetic 
signs.  It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  the  Egyptians  them- 
selves were  puzzled  to  read  their  own  complicated  writing, 
and  introduced  determinatives  as  guides  to  the  reader.  For 
example,  the  drawing  of  an  open  mouth  was  attached  to  a 
character  to  indicate  that  its  phonetic  value  must  be  taken ; 
the  representation  of  a  surveying -instrument  distinguished 
the  names  of  Egyptian  towns  ;  that  of  a  mountain,  a  thing 
unknown  in  the  Nile  valley,  marked  foreign  localities. 

The  Rosetta  Stone. — The  finding  of  the  Rosetta  Stone  in 
1799  paved  the  way  for  the  brilliant  discoveries  of  the  French 
savant  Champollion  (sham-pol' le-on\  before  whose  time  the 
vast  literature  of  Egypt  had  been  locked  up  from  the  world. 
A  French  officer,  while  erecting  works  a^  Rosetta  in  the  delta 
of  the  Nile  during  Napoleon's  Egyptian  campaign,  unearthed 
a  piece  of  black  basalt,  which  contained,  in  equivalent  in- 
scriptions in  hieroglyphics  and  Greek  letters,  a  decree  con- 
ferring divine  honors  on  Ptolemy  V.,  a  monarch  of  the  second 
century  B.C.  The  meaning  of  the  Greek  text  being  known, 


120 


EGYPTIAN    LITERATURE. 


THE  EOSETTA  STONE. 

the  hieroglyphics  through  it  were  translated  ;  patient  study 
determined  the  signification  of  the  separate  characters,  and 
a  key  was  thus  obtained  to  other  Egyptian  inscriptions.  The 
famous  Rosetta  Stone,  resting  on  a  block  of  red  porphyry, 
now  ornaments  the  Egyptian  gallery  of  the  British  Museum. 

Champollion  thus  succeeded  in  solving  a  problem  that  had 
baffled  alike  Greeks,  Romans,  and  all  subsequent  nations.* 
It  has  been  truly  said  that  he  opened  the  door  to  "  a  library 
of  stones  and  papyri  in  myriads  of  volumes,"  in  which  every 


*  It  is  but  just  to  say  that  Gnstav  Seyffarth,  the  eminent  German  archaeol- 
ogist, still  living  (in  New  York,  1878),  as  long  ago  as  182G  published  a  system 
of  interpretation  differing  from  Champollion's,  which  he  claims  that  the  later 
Egyptologists  have  virtually  adopted. 


GOLDEN   AGE.  121 

branch  of  literature  is  represented.  The  crumbling  walls 
scattered  throughout  "  the  Monumental  Land "  now  utter 
intelligible  words ;  the  very  implements  and  toys  have  their 
stories  to  tell ;  and  many  a  tomb  has  yielded  up  its  brittle 
treasure  of  papyrus,  its  eulogy  or  legend,  its  history  or  hymn. 

Monuments  and  Papyri. — The  ancient  Egyptians  exceeded 
all  other  nations  in  their  fondness  for  writing.  The  chisel 
was  kept  busy  in  graving  monuments  of  granite.  The  reed 
or  goose-quill,  with  ink-pot  and  palette,  was  in  constant  req- 
uisition, committing  their  records  to  rolls  of  papyrus  some- 
times a  hundred  feet  long ;  and  not  unfrequently  the  proces- 
sions of  men,  birds,  insects,  and  reptiles,  in  profile,  were  illumi- 
nated with  high  colors  and  gold  wr-ought  in  artistic  vignettes. 

Golden  Age  of  Egyptian  Literature. — If  we  look  for  a  pro- 
gressive development  of  Egyptian  literature,  we  shall  be  dis- 
appointed. A  wonderful  sameness  pervades  every  period, 
with  the  exception  of  that  which  has  been  called  the  Ratn- 
essid,  from  one  of  the  greatest  Pharaohs,  Ram'eses  II.,  at 
whose  court  Moses  was  brought  up  "  in  all  the  wisdom  of  the 
Egyptians"  (i5th  century  B.C.).  Great  national  triumphs 
helped  to  make  the  reign  of  this  Rameses,  the  Sesostris  of 
the  Greeks,  a  golden  age  of  art  and  literature.  His  court  at 
hundred-gated  Thebes  was  adorned  by  men  of  genius,  among 
them  the  poet  and  romance-writer  Enna,  with  his  simple  and 
majestic  style.  At  their  head  was  the  Master  of  the  Rolls, 
Kagabu  the  Elegant,  who  kept  the  great  library  founded  at 
the  capital  by  his  royal  master,  and  inscribed  "  Dispensary  of 
the  Soul." 

LITEKAEY   REMAINS. 

Religious  Works. — The  ancient  Egyptians  are  spoken  of 
by  Herodotus  as  "  surpassing  all  others  in  the  reverence  they 
paid  the  gods."  Their  social  life,  institutions,  and  govern- 
ment, all  bore  a  religious  impress ;  and  even  art  seems  to 
have  been  cultivated  mainly  to  glorify  the  deities  or  invest 


122  EGYPTIAN   LITEEATUKE. 

the  mona-rchs  with  divine  honors.  The  bulk  of  Egyptian 
literature,  therefore,  is  of  a  religious  character. 

Thanks  to  the  custom  of  enclosing  with  the  embalmed 
body  in  the  mummy-case  papyrus  texts  from  the  Book  of  the 
Dead  or  Funeral  Ritual,  this  old  Bible  of  the  Egyptians,  the 
greatest  of  all  their  theological  works,  has  been  preserved  to 
us.  The  copying  of  this  sacred  book,  and  illuminating  it  ac- 
cording to  the  rank  or  fortune  of  the  dead  man,  afforded  prof- 
itable employment  to  a  multitude  of  priests. 

The  Book  of  the  Dead  contains  166  chapters.  It  is  intro- 
duced by  a  sublime  dialogue  between  Osi'ris,  god  of  the  low- 
er world,  and  the  disembodied  soul,  at  the  moment  of  death. 
The  funeral  ceremonies  are  then  prescribed ;  after  which 
come  the  pilgrimage  of  the  soul  through  the  land  of  the  dead 
— its  battles  with  serpents  and  monsters,  and  the  charms  by 
which  they  may  be  vanquished — its  various  transformations — 
the  terrible  trial  in  the  judgment -hall  of  Osiris,  where  the 
heart  of  the  deceased  is  weighed  in  the  balance — and  the 
final  admission  of  its  owner,  if  not  found  wanting,  to  everlast- 
ing bliss.  Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  the  immortality  of  the 
soul  was  a  cardinal  article  of  Egyptian  belief. 

EXTRACT  FROM  THE   BOOK  OF  THE  DEAD. 

THE    SOUL'S   DECLARATION    OP   INNOCENCE    IN  THE   JUDG- 
MENT-HALL. 

"  O  ye  Lords  of  Truth  !  I  have  brought  yon  truth.  I  have  not 
privily  done  evil  against  mankind.  I  have  not  aftiicted  the  misera- 
ble. I  have  not  told  falsehoods.  I  have  had  no  acquaintance  with 
ein.  I  have  not  made  the  laboring  man  do  more  than  his  daily  task. 
I  have  not  been  idle.  I  have  not  been  intoxicated.  I  have  not  been 
immoral.  I  have  not  calumniated  a  slave  to  his  master.  I  have  not 
caused  hunger.  I  have  not  made  to  weep.  I  have  not  murdered. 
I  have  not  defrauded. 

I  have  not  eaten  the  sacred  bread  in  the  temples.  I  have  not 
cheated  in  the  weight  of  the  balance.  I  have  not  withheld  milk 
from  the  mouths  of  sucklings.  I  have  not  slandered  any  one.  I 
have  not  netted  sacred  birds.  I  have  not  caught  the  fish  which 
typify  them.  I  have  not  stopped  running  water.  I  have  not  robbed 


THE   IIEKMETIC   BOOKS.  123 

the  gods  of  their  offered  haunches.  I  have  not  stopped  a  god  from 
his  manifestation.  I  have  made  to  the  gods  the  offerings  that  Avero 
their  due.  I  have  given  food  to  the  hungry,  drink  to  the  thirsty, 
and  clothes  to  the  naked.  I  am  pure !  I  am  pure !" — BIRCH  AXD 
PLEYTE. 

Human  nature,  in  its  faults  and  vices,  as  portrayed  in  the 
above  passage,  seems  to  have  been  much  the  same  3,500 
years  ago  as  at  the  present  day  ;  the  high-toned  moral  prin- 
ciples here  implied  are  certainly  worthy  of  all  admiration. 

This  Book  of  the  Dead  is  almost  the  sole  survivor  of  many 
sacred  works  on  science,  religion,  music,  and  law,  called  Her- 
metic Books,  from  Hermes  Trismegistus  (thrice  greatest),  their 
reputed  author  and  the  traditional  founder  of  all  Egyptian  in- 
stitutions. The  Book  of  the  Breaths  of  Life,  which  treats  of 
the  resurrection  and  the  subsequent  existence  of  the  soul,  is 
another  curious  work.  Copies  of  it  were  buried  with  the 
mummies  of  certain  priests  and  priestesses. 

FROM  THE  BOOK  OF  THE  BREATHS  OF  LIFE. 

"  Hail  to  thee, (name  of  the  deceased)  I 

Thine  individuality  is  permanent. 

Thy  body  is  durable. 

Thy  mnuuny  doth  germinate. 

Thou  art  not  repulsed  from  heaven,  neither  from  earth. 

Thou  dost  breathe  for  ever  and  ever. 

Thy  flesh  is  on  thy  bones, 

Like  unto  thy  form  on  earth. 

Thou  dost  drink,  thou  eatest  with  thy  month. 

Thou  receivest  bread  with  the  souls  of  the  gods. 

Thy  soul  doth  breathe  for  ever  and  ever. 

O  ye  gods  that  dwell  in  the  Lower  Heaven, 

Hearken  unto  the  voice  of ! 

He  is  near  unto  you. 

There  is  no  fault  in  him.     He  liveth  in  the  truth. 

Let  him  enter  then  into  the  Lower  Heaven ! 

Ho  hath  received  the  Book  of  the  Breaths  of  Life, 

That  he  may  breathe  with  his  soul, 

And  that  he  may  make  any  transformation  at  will ; 

That  his  soul  may  go  wherever  it  desircth, 

Living  on  the  earlh  for  ever  and  ever."— DE  IIoiUiACK. 


124  EGYPTIAN    LITERATURE. 

Hymns. — Grand  hymns  to  the  Egyptian  deities  have  also 
been  recovered,  displaying  a  purer  faith  than  that  with  which 
this  ancient  people  has  been  generally  credited.  The  various 
gods  addressed  seem  to  have  been  regarded  as  only  different 
manifestations  of  one  uncreated  Supreme  Being. 

HYMN  OF   THE  KAMESSID  AGE. 

"  Glory  to  thee  who  hast  begotten  all  that  exists ! 

Who  hast  made  man  ; 
Who  hast  made  the  gods,  and  all  the  beasts  of  the  field ; 

Who  makest  man  to  live ; 

Who  hast  no  being  second  to  thee. 
Lord  of  generation  !  thou  hast  given  the  breath  of  life, 
Thou  makest  the  world  to  move  in  its  seasons, 
And  orderest  the  course  of  the  Nile,  whose  ways  are  secret. 

He  is  the  light  of  the  world. 

He  shooteth  in  the  green  herb, 

And  maketh  the  corn,  the  grass,  and  the  trees  of  the  field. 
He  giveth  to  sous  the  dignity  of  their  fathers." — CHABAS. 

The  genius  of  the  early  Egyptian  lyric  poets  may  be  esti- 
mated from  the  following  verses  discovered  on  a  monumental 
tablet  among  the  ruins  of  Thebes.  They  are  represented  as 
addressed  by  Amen  (a/i'men),  the  supreme  god  of  that  city,  to 
Thothmes  III.,  under  whom  (1600  B.C.)  Egypt  rose  to  the 
zenith  of  her  military  greatness,  and  according  to  a  popular 
saying  of  the  day  "  placed  her  frontier  where  it  pleased  her- 
self." The  hymn  is  peculiarly  beautiful  in  the  original,  by 
reason  of  the  harmonious  cadence  of  its  periods,  and  that  par- 
allelism or  "balance  of  clauses  and  ideas"  which  is  largely 
characteristic  of  Oriental  poetry,  and  which  the  Egyptians  are 
thought  to  have  invented. 

HYMN   TO  THOTHMES   III. 

"  I  am  come— to  thee  have  I  given  to  strike  down  Syrian  princes ; 
Under  thy  feet  they  lie  throughout  the  breadth  of  their  country. 
Like  to  the  Lord  of  Light,  I  made  them  see  thy  glory, 
Blinding  their  eyes  with  light,  the  earthly  image  of  Amen. 


SACKED   AND   SECULAR   POETRY. 


125 


I  ain  come — to  thee  have  I  given  to  strike  clown  Asian  people ; 
Captive  now  thou  hast  led  the  proud  Assyrian  chieftains; 
Decked  in  royal  robes,  I  made  them  see  thy  glory  ; 
All  in  glittering  arms  and  fighting  high  in  thy  war-car. 

I  am  come — to  thee  have  I  given  to  strike  down  western  nations; 
Cyprus  both  and  the  Ases  have  heard  thy  name  with  terror. 
Like  a  strong-horned  bull,  I  made  them  see  thy  glory, 
Strong  with  piercing  horns,  so  that  none  can  stand  before  him. 

I  am  come — to  thee  have  I  given  to  strike  down  Libyan  archers ; 
•  All  the  isles  of  the  Greeks  submit  to  the  force  of  thy  spirit. 
Like  a  lion  in  prey,  I  made  them  see  thy  glory, 
Couched  by  the  corpse  ho  has  made  down  in  the  rocky  valley. 

I  am  come — to  theo  have  I  given  to  strike  down  the  ends  of  tho 

ocean ; 

In  the  grasp  of  thy  hand  is  the  circling  zone  of  waters ; 
Like  the  soaring  eagle,  I  made  them  see  thy  glory, 
Whose  far-seeing  eye  there  is  none  can  hope  to  escape  from." 

H 

Secular  Poetry  was  at  the  same  time  cultivated  in  ancient 
Egypt;  the  people  delighted  in  odes  and  ballads.  The  ac- 
companying harvest- song,  presented  in  the  original  hiero- 
glyphics with  their  equivalents  in  English  words,  was  found 
on  an  ancient  tomb : — 


HARVEST  SONG. 

Thresh  for  yourselves, 
Thresh  for  yourselves, 
Thresh  for  yourselves,  O  oxen ! 
Thresh  for  yourselves, 
Thresh  for  yourselves, 
Measures   of  grain  for   your- 
selves, 

Measures   of  grain   for   your  . 
masters. 


I  I  I 


I  I 


III 


I  I 


126  EGYPTIAN   LITERATURE. 

The  Egyptian  Iliad. — There  are  also  extant  five  copies  of 
an  epic  poem  by  Pentaour,  a  writer  of  the  golden  age,  one  on 
papyrus,  the  others  in  hieroglyphics  on  temple -walls.  This 
Iliad  of  Egypt,  the  only  representative  of  its  class  in  all  the 
literature  that  has  been  recovered,  celebrates  the  prowess  of 
Rameses  the  Great  in  a  war  with  the  Hittites.  The  grand 
central  scene,  vividly  portrayed  by  the  hand  of  a  master-artist, 
discloses  the  king,  forsaken  by  his  cowardly  troops  in  the  heat, 
of  battle,  calling  on  the  god  Amen  for  aid,  and  with  his  assist- 
ance discomfiting  single-handed  the  hostile  multitude.  Then 
he  bursts  forth  into  a  eulogy  of  his  own  bravery,  loading  the 
fugitives  with  reproaches,  and  contrasting  their  cowardice  with 
the  fiery  spirit  of  his  trusty  horses  that  had  borne  him  safely 
through  the  battle. 

From  this  relic  of  the  age  of  taste  and  literary  culture  in 
ancient  Egypt,  the  following  extract  is  taken.  Rameses,  sur- 
rounded by  the  chariots  of  the  Hittites,  thus  calls  upon  his 
god:— 

"Who  art  thou,  then,  my  father  Amen ;  art  them  a  father  that  for- 
getteth  his  sou  ?  Have  I  done  aught  without  thee  ?  Did  I  not 
march  at  thy  word  ?  Have  I  not  offered  thee  myriads  of  sacrifices  ? 
Have  I  not  filled  thy  house  with  prisoners,  and  built  thee  a  temple  to 
last  for  millions  of  years  ?  I  have  offered  thee  all  the  world.  I  set 
up  the  obelisks  of  Elephantine  ;*  by  me  were  the  eternal  stones  set 
up.  Assuredly  wretched  is  the  lot  of  him  that  resists  thy  counsel; 
blessed  is  he  that  kuoweth  thee,  for  thy  deeds  are  the  fruit  of  a  heart 
full  of  love. 

Behold!  I  am  in  the  midst  of  a  host  of  strangers,  and  no  man  is 
with  me.  All  my  men  of  war  have  forsaken  me,  and  when  I  called 
them  there  was  none  to  listen  to  my  voice.  But  I  prefer  Amen  to  a 
million  of  soldiers,  to  ten  thousand  horsemen,  to  myriads  of  assembled 
brothers  and  sons.  The  desigus  of  man  are  nothing  :  Amen  overrules 
them." 

Moral  Treatises. — Piety,  charity,  and  filial  obedience,  were 
esteemed  as  leading  virtues  in  Egypt,  and  were  inculcated  in 
moral  treatises,  letters,  and  dialogues.  Before  2000  B.C.,  the 

*  One  now  stands  in  the  Place  de  la  Concorde,  Paris. 


PROVERBIAL   PHILOSOPHY.  127 

great  sage,  Prince  Ptah-hotep  prepared  a  handbook  on  practi- 
cal morality,  full  of  wise  maxims,  prescribing  rules  of  conduct 
for  the  young,  and  recommending  the  practice  of  obedience, 
honesty,  and  benevolence,  though  in  a  style  unconnected  and 
weakened  by  repetitions. 

Ptah-hotep's  curious  treatise,  which  recalls  the  Proverbs  of 
Solomon,  is  preserved  in  the  famous  Prisse  papyrus,*  by  some 
considered  the  oldest  book  in  the  world. 

ANCIENT  EGYPTIAN  PROVERBS. 

"  That  man  is  happy  who  lives  on  his  own  labor. 

If  thou  become  great  after  being  small,  and  gain  fortune  by  toil, 
and  art  therefore  placed  at  the  head  of  thy  city,  be  not  proud  of  thy 
riches,  which  are  thine  by  the  gift  of  God.  Thy  neighbor  is  not  in- 
ferior to  thee  ;  be  to  him  as  a  companion. 

Slay  not,  lest  thou  be  thyself  in  peril  of  being  slain. 

Love  thy  wife,  and  cherish  her  as  long  as  thou  livest;  be  no  ty- 
rant ;  flattery  acts  upon  her  better  than  rudeness,  and  will  make  her 
contented  and  diligent. 

Curse  not  thy  master  before  God. 

Gossip  is  abominable. 

If  a  beggar  is  made  rich,  the  magistrates  will  praise  him. 

If  thou  art  wise,  bring  up  thy  son  to  fear  God. 

Redeem  not  thy  life  with  that  of  thy  neighbor. 

Fairer  is  obedience  than  all  things,  when  it  is  rendered  freely. 
Very  fair  is  it  when  a  son  receives  the  word  of  his  father ;  therefore 
shall  his  life  be  long  in  the  land.  Hi's  fame  shall  be  known  to  all 
men. 

Walk  not  with  a  fool." 

Scientific  Literature. — We  have  every  reason  to  believe  that 
the  Egyptians  attained  a  high  degree  of  scientific  knowledge, 
even  at  a  period  far  beyond  the  reach  of  our  investigations. 
Undoubtedly  many  books  were  written  on  science,  to  study 
which  the  deepest  thinkers  among  the  Greeks  regarded  a 
journey  into  Egypt  as  well  worth  their  while.  With  the  ex- 
ception, however,  of  a  papyrus  on  geometry,  dating  about  noo 
B.C.,  and  some  medical  treatises,  nothing  has  come  to  light. 


M.  Prisse  first  published  this  papyrus  in  France ;  hence  its  name. 

F 


128 


EGYPTIAN   LITERATURE. 

'"•"•' 


TiA 


~_i  -"rli  •  a 


vnv^  ^H^  ^Q 

s,  FKOii  TUB  COLLECTION  or  TIJE  NEW  YORK  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

Judging  from  the  medical  writings  that  have  been  found, 
it  would  seem  that  the  Egyptian  physicians  had  a  superficial 
acquaintance  with  the  principles  of  physiology,  and  adminis- 
tered various  ointments,  draughts,  the  milk  of  animals,  honey, 
vinegar,  and  herbs.  They  were  adepts  in  surgery,  and  prac- 
tised specialties  ;  mummies  have  been  found  with  gold  fillings 
in  their  teeth,  and  bandaged  as  skilfully  as  by  an  expert  of 
to-day.  Such  was  the  reputation  of  Egyptian  practitioners 
that  they  were  sent  for  from  distant  countries. 

In  later  times,  medical  science  was  tinctured  with  magic. 
Superstitious  rites  accompanied  the  administering  of  medi- 
cines; charms  and  love-philters  came  into  vogue; 
bits  of  papyri  containing  magical  formula?  were 
worn  as  amulets;  and  the  sensible  remedies  of 
early  times  were  crowded  aside  by  foolish  pre- 
scriptions for  acquiring  happiness,  making  friends, 
obtaining  dreams,  etc. 
Fiction  and  Satire. — Works  of  the  imagination  would  not 
seem  to  be  in  harmony  with  the  grave  Egyptian  character, — 
nor  would  satires  and  caricatures  ;  yet  all  three  find  a  place  in 
this  comprehensive  literature.  Even  kings  did  not  escape  the 


AMULET. 


WOEKS    OF    FICTIOK.  129 

pen  and  brush  of  the  satirist.  The  tale  and  romance,  gener- 
ally the  vehicle  for  some  religious  doctrine,  constituted  a  fa- 
vorite branch  of  literature  in  the  Ramessid  age. 

The  poet  Enna  has  left  us  a  novel,  written  more  than  3,000 
years  ago  for  the  amusement  of  the  crown-prince,  who  after- 
ward perished  with  his  host  in  the  Red  Sea.  It  is  entitled 
"  the  Tale  of  the  Two  Brothers,"  and  is  perhaps  "  the  oldest 
fairy  story  in  the  world."  It  sets  forth  the  rustic  life  of  two 
devoted  brothers  ;  the  false  accusation  of  one  by  the  wife  of 
the  other ;  the  flight  of  the  accused,  after  a  warning  given  him 
by  his  faithful  cattle ;  his  pursuit  by  the  elder  brother,  who 
is  resolved  to  avenge  the  alleged  outrage ;  the  interference, 
in  behalf  of  the  innocent,  of  a  god  who  creates  between 
pursuer  and-  pursued  a  stream  full  of  crocodiles ;  and  many 
strange  adventures  on  the  part  of  the  fugitive,  followed  by  the 
reunion  of  the  brothers,  the  elevation  of  the  younger  to  the 
throne  of  Egypt,  and  of  the  elder  to  the  proud  position  of 
hereditary  prince. 

Other  works  of  fiction  are  "the  Romance  of  Setna,"  show- 
ing the  danger  of  appropriating  sacred  books ;  "  the  Tale  of 
the  Doomed  Prince"  (who,  it  was  decreed  by  the  Fates  when 
they  came  to  greet  him  at  his  birth,  was  to  die  by  a  serpent,  a 
crocodile,  or  a  dog) ;  and  "  the  Tale  of  the  Garden  of  Flow- 
ers," illustrative  of  Egyptian  social  life. 

In  the  department  of  letter-writing,  Egyptian  literature  was 
especially  rich.  There  were  also  legal  documents,  histories, 
biographical  sketches,  and  travels.  Nor  must  fables  be  for- 
gotten, in  which  the  animals  are  represented  as  conversing,  as 
in  the  following  : — 

THE  LION  AND  THE  MOUSE. 

MOUSE. — "O  Pharaoh!  if  you  eat  me,  you  will  not  be  satisfied, 
your  hunger  will  remain.  Give  me  life  as  I  gave  it  to  you  in  the 
day  of  your  straits,  in  your  evil  day. 

Remember  the  hunters;  one  had  a  net  to  catch  you,  and  the  other 


130  EGYPTIAN    LITERATURE. 

a  rope.  There  was  also  a  pit  dug  before  the  lion,  lie  fell  in  and  was 
a  prisoner  in  the  pit ;  he  was  pledged  by  his  feet.  Then  came  the 
little  mouse  opposite  him,  and  released  him.  Now  therefore  reward 
me :  I  am  the  little  mouse." 

Such  is  the  literature  which  the  sands  of  Egypt  have  yielded 
to  modern  research — a  literature  which,  itself  of  greater  an- 
tiquity, furnished  models  even  to  the  nations  that  we  call  an- 
cient. While  these  later  nations,  judging  from  the  remains 
that  have  thus  far  come  to  our  knowledge,  certainly  improved 
on  their  masters  in  artistic  finish  and  grandeur  of  conception, 
it  must  be  remembered  that  we  have  not  yet  fully  sounded  the 
depths  of  Egyptian  literature.  We  know  not  what  master- 
pieces may  still  lie  hid  beneath  the  sand,  or  bear  the  mummy 
company  in  some  undiscovered  tomb.  We  are,  indeed,  jus- 
tified in  expecting  greater  works  from  the  land  that  was  the 
fount  of  Greek  inspiration  ;  the  dayspring  of  knowledge  to  the 
Chosen  People,  in  whose  mysterious  hieroglyphics  perhaps 
Moses  wrote  the  Pentateuch ;  whose  religion  bears  in  many 
points  a  strange  analogy  to  ours  ;  whose  lasting  structures  are 
emblematic  of  the  soul's  immortality ;  and  whose  lotus-blos- 
soms, reopening  every  morning,  symbolize  the  resurrection 
from  the  night  of  death. 

NOTES    ON    EGYPTIAN    EDUCATION,   ETC. 

Egyptian  education  in  the  hands  of  priests,  who  gave  instruction  in  the 
ochools  of  Thebes  and  Memphis  to  members  of  their  own  and  the  warrior  caste. 
Religion,  belles-lettres,  science,  and  music,  the  branches  taught;  particular  at- 
tention bestowed  upon  mathematical  studies.  The  rudiments  of  education  im- 
parted to  children  by  their  parents  or  in  common  schools,  and  supplemented 
with  a  severe  course  of  physical  training.  Reading  and  writing  great  accom- 
plishments among  the  lower  classes,  who  were  generally  unlearned.  In  the 
earliest  periods,  education  recognized  as  the  great  agent  of  civilization ;  the 
proudest  offices  within  reach  of  the  scholar.  No  mention  made  of  the  educa- 
tion of  women,  but  girls  were  doubtless  fitted  by  some  system  of  mental  training 
for  the  public  positions  they  were  afterward  allowed  to  fill. 

Manual  labor  despised  by  the  aristocratic  orders,  who  looked  with  contempt 
even  upon  painting  and  sculpture.  Dancing,  gymnastic  exercises,  games  (one 


TABLE    OF    ORIENTAL   LITERATURE. 


131 


like  our  chequers),  fishing  in  preserves,  spearing  the  hippopotamus  from  canoes, 
and  hunting  wild  fowl  in  the  marshes,  favorite  pastimes.  Ladies  present  at  the 
sports.  A  keen  eye  for  humor  manifested  in  the  fondness  of  the  Egyptians  for 
caricature,  from  which  even  their  representations  of  funeral  ceremonies  were  not 
exempt. 

Gold  rings  and  engraved  gems  used  as  currency.  Precious  stones  carved  with 
the  sacred  beetle  of  Egypt,  the  media  of  exchange  throughout  the  Mediterranean 
countries. 


SYNCHRONISTIC   TABLE   OF   ORIENTAL   LITERATURE. 


India. 

Persia. 

The  Hebrews. 

Assyria  and 
Babylonia. 

Egypt. 

China. 

B.C 

Birth  of 

Ptah-hotep's 

Earliest 

Chaldean 

Moral 

2000 

Vedic 

Literature. 

Treatise. 

Hymns 

Earliest 

Abraham. 

Cuneiform 

Hermetic 

written. 

metrical 

Writing. 

Books. 

The 

songs. 

Golden  Age. 

Papyri  and 

Vedic 

Gathas. 

Job. 

Inscriptions. 

Rise  of  Assyrian 

Five 

1500 

Age. 

Zoroaster. 

Literature. 

Moses  and 

Ramessid 

"King." 

the  Pentateuch. 

Era. 

A 

Epic  Poetry, 

succession 

Archives 

Fiction, 
Satire, 

1200 

Code 
of 

of  Persian 
priests 

Early  Lyrics 
and  Secular 

and 
Records. 

Hymns. 

Maim. 

enlarging 

Poetry. 

Odes 

and 

Scientific 

modifying 

Works 

and 

the 

Sacred 

Golden  Age. 
Psalms  of 

on 
various 
subjects. 

Pastoral 

1000 

Epics. 

Literature. 

David. 

Poetry. 

Solomon's 

Proverbs. 

Hymns. 

Renaissance. 

Lyrics. 

Prophetic 

Golden  Age  of 

Demotic 

Poetry. 

Assyrian 

Writing 

500 

Paniui. 

Compilation 
of 

Ezra. 

Literature. 

introduced. 

Confucius. 

the  Avesta. 

Grammar. 

PAKT  II. 

GRECIAN    LITERATURE. 


CHAPTER  I. 
BIRTH  OF  GRECIAN  LITERATURE. 

Early  Settlement  of  Greece. — While  Chaldea  and  Assyria 
were  rising  to  greatness,  while  Phoenicia  was  winning  for  her- 
self maritime  supremacy,  and  wonders  in  art  and  science  were 
spreading  the  renown  of  Egypt  throughout  the  earth,  a  simple 
agricultural  people  was  quietly  moving  westward  toward  Greece 
and  Italy.  In  very  early  times,  Aryan  tribes  known  as  Pelas- 
gic  quitted  their  habitations  in  southwestern  Bactria  (Map, 
p.  15),  and  made  their  way  through  Persia  and  Mesopotamia 
into  Asia  Minor.  Here,  on  rich  table-lands  irrigated  by  the 
head-waters  of  streams  flowing  into  the  Black  Sea  and  the 
Mediterranean,  among  the  gold-bearing  mountains  and  vine- 
grown  valleys  of  Phrygia  (see  Map),  they  cultivated  their  grain, 
pastured  their  sheep,  made  permanent  settlements,  and  rapid- 
ly grew  into  a  great  nation.  These  Pelasgic  tribes  were  the 
ancestors  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans. 

The  same  general  causes  that  led  to  emigration  from  the 
mother-country  crowded  toward  the  coast  communities  of  this 
Phrygian  people,  and  ultimately  obliged  them  to  seek  new 
homes  in  the  west.  Perhaps,  paddling  from  island  to  island 
in  rude  galleys,  some  crossed  the  yEge'an ;  perhaps,  passing 


134  GRECIAN   LITERATURE. 

the  Hellespont,  some  picked  their  way  through  Thrace  and 
Macedonia,  entered  the  defiles  of  the  northern  mountains,  and 
spread  over  Greece ;  while  others,  more  adventurous,  pushed 
their  course  still  farther,  and  peopled  the  Italian  peninsula. 

The  Pelasgic  tribes  were  probably  the  first  occupants  of 
Greece  and  Italy.  Earlier  emigrants  from  Asia  appear  to  have 
found  all  they  desired  in  the  accessible  districts  of  central  Eu- 
rope, and  not  to  have  climbed  the  steep  ranges  that  hemmed 
in  those  regions  on  the  south.  The  Greeks  themselves  claimed 
with  pride  to  have  sprung  from  the  earth ;  and  a  golden  grass- 
hopper, worn  in  the  hair  as  an  ornament  by  the  Athenians, 
pointed  to  this  belief  in  their  autochthony. 

The  Hellenes. — Fresh  bodies  of  Pelasgians  continued  to  ar- 
rive from  Asia  Minor,  until  all  Greece  was  populated  with  a 
thrifty  race  of  husbandmen  and  shepherds.  Upon  this  primi- 
tive Pelasgian  stock  was  afterward  engrafted  a  branch  called 
Hellenic,  identical  with  it  in  origin,  but  forced  to  a  higher  state 
of  development  in  the  garden  of  Asiatic  culture,  and  ready  to 
burst  into  blossom  on  the  soil  of  Greece.  The  new-comers 
were  the  Helle'nes,  a  people  of  greater  vigor,  physical  and  in- 
tellectual. Mingling  with  their  Pelasgian  kinsmen  in  the  Gre- 
cian peninsula,  they  formed  a  new  nation,  endowed  with  fresh 
life;  and  the  Pelasgic  dialect,  modified  and  energized  by  their 
more  cultivated  tongue,  was  converted  into  GREEK. 

The  Greeks  had  a  popular  proverb,  do  nothing  too  much, 
which  they  applied  in  writing  as  in  acting.  Pruning  away  too 
great  exuberance  and  repressing  the  Oriental  tendency  to  ex- 
aggerate, they  reduced  everything  to  the  standard  of  a  rigid 
but  elegant  correctness.  More  artistic  than  the  Hindoos,  less 
luxuriant  in  imagination  but  with  a  chaster  and  severer  taste, 
they  established  a  literature  richly  furnished  in  every  depart- 
ment, whose  influence  can  be  traced  in  the  works  of  gen- 
ius that  stand  out  in  every  age  and  country.  As  Professor 
Jebb  says,  "  the  thoughts  of  the  great  Greek  thinkers  have 


EARLY   SETTLERS   OF   GREECE.  135 

been  bearing  fruit  in  the  world  ever  since  they  were  first  ut- 
tered." 

Thus  in  Greece,  Aryan  energy,  freed  from  the  trammels  of 
Oriental  despotism,  seems  first  to  have  found  its  true  develop- 
ment. The  facilities  which  this  country  enjoyed  for  intercourse 
with  Egypt  and  Phoenicia,  enabled  it  to  draw  from  the  learn- 
ing of  one,  to  copy  the  enterprise  and  adopt  the  inventions  of 
the  other.  This  accounts  for  its  having  been  the  seat  of  the 
earliest  European  civilization. 

At  a  later  period,  we  find  the  Hellenes  separated  into  three 
great  families — the  yEolians,  occupying  generally  the  north  of 
Greece;  the  lonians,  distributed  over  the  central  portions;  and 
the  Dorians,  settled  in  the  south  (the  Peloponnesus,  island  of 
Pelops}.  Connected  with  these  three  divisions  were  as  many 
dialects — ^Eolic,  Ionic,  and  Doric  Greek — of  which,  Ionic  was 
the  softest  and  most  polished.  This  Ionic,  refined  and  per- 
fected, became  what  is  known  as  Attic  Greek ;  it  was  the  lan- 
guage of  Athens  in  the  golden  age  of  her  art  and  poetry,  and 
for  centuries  was  understood  by  the  educated  classes  through- 
out a  great  part  of  the  civilized  world. 

These  Hellenic  dialects  were  also  spoken  on  the  islands  of 
the  ^gean  and  the  coast  of  Asia  Minor;  for  the  tide  of  emi- 
gration set  back  again  toward  the  Asiatic  shores,  and  vEolians, 
lonians,  and  Dorians,  returned  in  great  colonies  to  the  neigh- 
borhood of  their  early  home. 

Ancient  Greek  is  the  most  musical  language  of  the  Indo- 
European  group.  Sanscrit  indeed  excels  it  in  regularity,  but 
offends  the  ear  with  its  sameness,  the  constant  recurrence  of 
a  sounds  wearying  the  European  reader.  No  such  monoto- 
nous repetition  mars  the  harmony  of  Greek,  which,  on  the  oth- 
er hand,  presents  a  pleasing  variety  in  its  vowel  sounds,  its 
numerous  diphthongs,  and  consonant  combinations.  Nor  is 
this  variety  to  be  wondered  at,  for  tribes  differing  in  their  hab- 
its and  intellectual  traits,  mingling  on  the  shores  of  the 


J36  GRECIAN   LITERATURE. 

an,  contributed  different  elements  to  the  common  language. 
Above  all,  the  Greeks  were  gifted  with  a  delicate  ear,  which 
led  them,  in  the  oral  transmission  of  their  earliest  poetry,  to 
soften  all  harshness  in  their  tongue  and  make  it  melody  itself. 

In  common  with  Sanscrit,  Greek  was  well  adapted  to  the 
formation  of  compound  words  by  the  combining  of  primitives ; 
but  this  facility  for  combination  was  turned  to  account  only  so 
far  as  was  consistent  with  clearness  and  taste;  the  unwieldy 
polysyllabic  compounds  of  Sanscrit  were  wanting.  The  Greek 
rivals  its  Indian  sister  in  luxuriance  of  inflection  also,  having 
five  cases,  three  numbers,  and  three  voices  for  the  verb.  Ac- 
cents were  used  in  later  days  to  denote  the  peculiar  key  or 
tone  of  voice;  for  the  Greeks  appreciated  the  subtle  difference 
between  tone  (accent)  and  quantity  in  pronunciation,  a  distinc- 
tion unrecognized  in  modern  languages. 

Greek  is  universally  admired  for  its  dignity,  versatility,  and 
precision ;  its  blending  of  strength  and  elegance,  unity  and 
variety.  It  is  suited  to  all  departments  of  composition ;  to  the 
effective  expression  of  the  various  emotions;  to  stately  prose 
or  simple  verse.  Its  perfection  at  so  early  a  period,  particu- 
larly in  view  of  the  social  condition  of  the  people  who  spoke 
it,  is  a  phenomenon  which  we  vainly  seek  to  explain. 

The  Greek  Alphabet. — The  Phoenician  letters  were  adopted 
by  the  Greeks,  legend  ascribing  their  introduction  to  Cadmus, 
the  storied  founder  of  Thebes  (1500  B.C.).  Some  changes 
were  made  in  these;  new  characters  were  added  by  the  loni- 
ans;  and  about  400  B.C.  the  resulting  alphabet,  consisting  of 
twenty-four  letters,  was  officially  adopted  at  Athens.  The  re- 
semblance between  the  Greek  and  the  Phoenician  alphabet  is 
obvious;  see  Table,  p.  87. 

That  there  was  Pelasgian  picture-writing  in  Greece  before 
the  Phoenician  alphabet  reached  that  country,  is  by  no  means 
improbable. 

The  Beginnings  of  Greek  Poetry  are  found  in  the  sacred  ode, 


EAKLIEST   FOKMS    OF   POETRY.  137 

the  metrical  response  of  the  oracle,  the  festal  song,  and  the 
ballad  immortalizing  the  deeds  of  heroes  during  the  mythical 
ages.  The  art  of  poetry  was  coeval  with  the  first  settlement 
of  the  peninsula ;  but  its  higher  development  followed  the 
transfusion  of  Hellenic  genius  into  the  older  Pelasgian  race. 

The  earliest  forms  of  poetry  were  hymns  to  the  deities.  The 
religion  of  the  Greeks  was  a  worship  of  Nature.  Imagination 
peopled  every  nook  of  their  picturesque  land  with  supernatu- 
ral beings ;  and  each  was  propitiated  with  song,  from  the  wood- 
nymph  supposed  to  reside  in  the  spreading  oak  to  the  sun-god 
Apollo,  who,  with  the  Nine  Muses,  the  goddesses  of  poetry, 
abode  on  snow-crowned  Parnassus. ' 

To  Mother  Earth  (Deme'ter)  were  poured  forth  strains  of 
glowing  gratitude  for  her  bounty;  the  Mother  of  the  Gods 
(Cyb'ele)  was  worshipped  with  wilder  verse,  accompanied  with 
the  sound  of  cymbals  and  riotous  dances ;  the  god  of  wine 
(Diony'sus  or  Bacchus)  was  hymned  with  lively  lays  in  praise 
of  revelry;  and  so  the  burden  of  sacred  song  varied  with  the 
character  of  the  divinity.  When  spring  clothed  the  earth  with 
beauty,  the  hymns  were  joyous;  in  autumn  they  breathed  a 
spirit  of  sadness,  and  at  the  grape-harvest  was  sung  a  plaintive 
ditty,  the  Li'nus,  as  a  coranach  for  the  death  of  Nature.  The 
perishing  of  vegetation  before  the  blighting  breath  of  approach- 
ing winter  was  symbolized  by  the  fate  of  the  beauteous  youth 
Linus  torn  and  devoured  by  furious  dogs.  Of  similar  alle- 
gorical significance  were  many  of  the  hymns. 

The  delights  and  sorrows  of  domestic  life  also  found  utter- 
ance in  verse;  when  the  bride  was  escorted  to  her  new  home 
the  nuptial  song  was  sung,  and  for  the  dead  the  funeral  dirge 
was  chanted.  At  first  this  was  no  doubt  done  with  solemn 
pomp,  as  a  religious  ceremony ;  but  the  tendency  in  Greece 
was  to  popularize  song,  and  both  dirge  and  bridal  hymn  in 
time  lost  their  mere  ritual  complexion,  and  became  changed 
in  the  mouths  of  the  people  into  free  outpourings  of  emotion. 

F  2 


138 


GRECIAN   LITERATURE. 


The  bard  now  aimed  at  entertaining  his  listeners;  he  filled 
an  important  place  at  banquets  and  festivals,  where,  in  short 
poems,  he  chanted  to  the  accompaniment  of  flute  or  lyre  the 
adventures  of  heroes,  or  so  transformed  old  traditions  that  he 
was  looked  upon  as  their  maker  (poietes,poef).  All  Greece 
honored  him,  regardless  of  his  nationality.  Whether  ^Eolian, 
Dorian,  or  Ionian,  he  contributed  equally  to  Hellenic  fame,  and 
was  entitled  to  the  sympathy  and  support  of  all  Hellenes. 
Indeed,  he  was  invested  with  a  sacred  character,  for  he  was 
regarded  as  divinely  inspired. 

Thus  was  laid  the  foundation  of  Greek  letters.  From  such 
rude  beginnings,  the  Greek  imagination,  by  strides  unparalleled 
in  history,  mounted  to  the  grandest  heights  ever  attained  in 
poetry.  Moreover,  to  original  Greek  genius  we  owe  the  differ- 
ent varieties  of  literary  composition, — epic,  lyric,  and  dramatic 
poetry,  history,  criticism,  and  oratory.  Without  the  Grecian 
models,  nowhere  has  marked  superiority  been  attained;  the 
originals  themselves  have  never  been  surpassed. 

Tradition  has  given  us  the  names  of  many  poets  belonging 
to  the  fabulous  age ;  but  their  dates  are  unknown,  their  very 
existence  may  be  questioned. 


LEGENDARY  POETS  OF  GREECE. 


ORPHEUS,  the  Thracian  minstrel,  in- 
ventor of  religious  poetry. 

THAM'YRIS,  deprived  of  his  sight  and 
poetical  talent  for  challenging  the 
Muses  to  a  trial  of  skill  on  the  lyre. 

EUMOLPUS,  a  Thracian  priest;  reputed 
founder  of  the  Eleusiuian  Mysteries. 

O'LKN,  earliest  prophet  of  Apollo. 
CHRYSOTH'EMIS,  the  Cretan. 

Mus-sus  (inspired  by  the  Muses),  a  son 
or  disciple  of  Orpheus. 


AMPHI'OX,  taught  of  the  god  Mercu- 
ry; raised  stones  into  the  walls  of 
Thebes  by  the  strains  of  his  lyre. 

PJIILAMMON,  son  of  Apollo,  and  invent- 
or of  choral  music. 

PAMPHOS,  author  of  the  first  Linus.  ( 
OLYMPUS,  introducer  of  the  flute. 

PHEMON'OE,  first  priestess  at  the  Del- 
phic shrine,  inventor  of  hexame- 
ters. 


THE   HOMEEIC  POEMS.  139 


CHAPTER  II. 
AGE   OF  EPIC  POETRY. 

HOMER   AND   HIS   WORKS. 

Homer. — The  oldest  literary  productions  of  Greece  extant 
are  the  poems  of  Homer,  the  most  ancient  monuments  of  Ary- 
an poetry  west  of  the  Persian  Gulf.  About  1000  B.C.,  among 
the  legion  of  ballad-writers,  the  reciters  of  battle-songs,  myths, 
and  traditions  (known  '  as  Rhapsodists — ode-stitchers},  there 
arose  an  Ionian  poet  who  soon  towered  head  and  shoulders 
above  them  all — a  giant  among  the  giants  of  literature — HO- 
MER, of  unique  genius  and  world-wide  fame. 

As  to  Homer's  life,  we  must  ever  remain  in  the  dark.  For 
the  honor  of  giving  him  birth,  seven  cities  of  antiquity  disput- 
ed,* Smyrna  seeming  to  have  the  best  claim.  If  we  may  be- 
lieve tradition,  he  gave  early  evidence  of  his  divine  powers. 
Chance  took  him  on  a  sea-voyage,  during  which  he  visited 
many  countries,  among  them  Ithaca,  the  home  of  Ulysses,  one 
of  his  heroes.  On  the  island  of  Chi'os,  his  favorite  resort,  he 
is  thought  to  have  written  his  epics  the  Il'iad  and  Od'yssey, 
the  first  in  early  manhood,  the  second  in  old  age. 

Legend  relates  that  Homer,  twice  warned  by  an  oracle  to 
leware  of  the  yoiuig  men's  riddle,  went  ashore  one  day  on  I'os, 
an  island  of  the  Cyc'lades,  and  there,  noticing  some  boys  who 
had  been  fishing,  asked  them,  "What  luck?"  "What  we 
caught  we  left,  what  we  could  not  catch  we  carried  with  us," 

*  "  Septem  urbes  certant  de  stirpe  insignis  Homeri, — 

Smyrna,  Rhodes,  Colophon,  Salamis,  Chios,  Argos,  Athenae." 
For  all  places  mentioned  in  the  history  of  Grecian  literature,  see  Map,  p.  132. 


140  GRECIAN   LITERATURE. 

was  the  reply.  Unable  to  guess  the  riddle,  the  old  poet  died 
of  vexation.  According  to  another  account,  disease  carried 
him  off.  He  was  buried  on  the  sea-shore  at  los,  where  in  af- 
ter years  this  epitaph  marked  his  tomb : — 

"  Here  Homer  the  Divine,  in  earthy  bed, 
Poet  of  heroes,  rests  his  sacred  head." 

Homer's  Style. — Homer's  Iliad  was  the  first  Greek  poem  in 
which  were  combined  ingenuity  of  plot,  unity  of  subject,  and 
a  faithful  delineation  of  character  throughout.  He  deals  with 
heroes,  but  they  are  men  of  like  passions  with  ourselves.  The 
Odyssey,  if  less  sublime,  in  its  pathos  and  fine  touches  of  nat- 
ure shows  the  same  rich  gifts  of  genius  as  the  older  poem  of 
loftier  flight.  Both  works  are  written  in  hexameter  verse,  the 
true  metre  of  the  ancient  epic. 

The  distinguishing  features  of  Homer's  style  are  clearness, 
a  vigor  which  makes  us  feel  we  are  in  the  presence  of  a  mas- 
ter, and  a  childlike  simplicity  that  well  accords  with  his  sub- 
lime themes.  His  fidelity  to  nature  is  matched  only  by  Shake- 
speare's; and  imagery,  profuse  as  it  is  rich,  lifelike,  and  appro- 
priate, lights  up  every  page.  Simile  is  Homer's  own  figure  ; 
and  transporting  pictures  flash  ever  and  anon  across  the  scene, 
called  up  by  his  magic  wand.  For  example : — 

"  As  when,  high-fed  with  grain,  a  stall-bound  steed 
Snaps  his  strong  cord,  and  flies,  from  bondage  freed, 
Strikes  with  resounding  hoof  the  earth,  and  flies 
Where  the  wide  champaign  spread  before  him  lies, 
Seeks  the  remembered -haunts,  on  fire  to  lavo 
His  glowing  limbs,  and  dash  amid  the  wave, 
High  rears  his  crest,  and  tossing  with  disdain 
Wide  o'er  his  shoulders  spreads  his  stream  of  mane, 
And  fierce  in  beauty,  graceful  in  his  speed, 
Snuffs  his  known  fellows  in  the  distant  mead : 
Thus  Hector—" 

"  As  a  young  olive,  in  some  sylvan  scene, 
Crowned  by  fresh  fountains  with  eternal  greeji, 
Lifts  its  gay  head  in  snowy  flowerets  fair, 
And  plays  and  dances  to  the  gentle  'air ; 


THE    HOMERIC   POEMS.  141 

When  lo !  by  blasts  uprooted,  whirled  around, 
Low  lies  the  plant,  extended  on  the  ground : 
Thus  in  his  beauty  young  Euphorbus  lay." 

Homer  astonishes  us  with  his  universal  knowledge.  He 
names  every  part  of  a  vessel  technically  with  all  the  accuracy 
of  a  veteran  seaman  ;  he  is  as  conversant  with  the  details  of 
a  sacrifice  as  the  officiating  priest ;  he  describes  a  conflict  be- 
tween two  warriors  with  the  precision  of  a  master  of  fence ;  he 
sketches  the  forms  and  usages  of  palaces  as  if  born  and  bred 
in  kings'  courts,  and  is  equally  familiar  with  the  manners  of 
the  meanest  hind.  Everywhere  he  is  at  home. 

Other  poets*  may  be  stars  in  the  firmament,  but  Homer,  as 
Longi'nus  says,  is  the  sun  in  the  zenith.  His  poetry  is  all 
nature,  life,  action,  fire.  It  breathes  an  atmosphere  of  pure 
morality,  and  furnishes  ideal  characters  long  held  up  as  mod- 
els to  the  Grecian  youth,  who  learned  his  verses  by  heart  and 
in  some  cases  could  even  repeat  his  entire  poems.  Human 
genius  has  left  on  earth  at  intervals  of  centuries  a  few  imper- 
ishable monuments ;  none  nobler  among  these  than  the  mar- 
vellous Greek  epics. 

Plan  of  the  Iliad. — The  Iliad,  a  poem  of  twenty-four  books, 
is  a  tale  of  the  siege  of  Troy  (Il'ium),  a  city  on  the  coast  of 
Asia  Minor  (probable  date  of  the  siege,  1194-1184  B.C.). 
The  cause  of  the  war  was  the  perfidious  conduct  of  Paris,  son 
of  Priam,  the  Trojan  monarch.  Hospitably  entertained  at  the 
court  of  Menela'us,  king  of  Sparta,  he  eloped  with  Helen,  the 
wife  of  his  host,  the  most  beautiful  of  women,  and  carried  her 
off  to  Asia  with  the  treasures  of  her  husband.  To  avenge  this 
outrage,  Menelaus,  supported  by  Nestor  the  sage  of  Py'los, 
called  upon  the  Greek  princes,  collected  an  armament  of  a 
thousand  ships,  the  command  of  which  was  conferred  upon 


*  In  this  category  we  do  not  mean  to  include  our  own  Shakespeare ;  Homer's 
pedestal  is  no  loftier  than  his. 


142  GRECIAN    LITERATURE. 

his  brother  Agamemnon,  and  set  sail  for  Troy.  A  war  of  ten 
years  followed,  which  ended  in  the  capture  of  the  city  by  strat- 
agem, the  slaughter  of  Priam  and  his  family,  and  the  enslave- 
ment of  many  of  the  Trojans. 

The  special  subject  of  the  Iliad  is  the  wrath  of  the  Thessa- 
lian  Achilles  (a-kil'leez\  the  leading  warrior  of  the  Grecian 
host,  and  the  time  of  the  action  is  near  the  close  of  the  war. 
Agamemnon,  compelled  to  restore  to  her  father,  a  priest  of 
Apollo,  the  captive  maid  Chryse'is  who  had  fallen  to  his  share, 
seizes  upon  Brise'is,  a  virgin  allotted  to  Achilles.  A  quarrel 
results,  and  Achilles  withdraws  from  the  camp. 

Emboldened  by  his  absence,  the  Trojans  redouble  their  ef- 
forts. Misfortunes  to  the  Greek  cause  follow ;  and  though 
many  heroes  second  only  to  Achilles — the  stalwart  Ajax,  the 
cunning  Ulysses,  king  of  Ithaca,  Menelaus,  and  Diomede — 
exert  themselves  to  turn  the  tide  of  battle,  the  Greek  host  is 
made  keenly  to  feel  the  loss  of  its  puissant  champion.  Jupi- 
ter, king  of  heaven,  sides  with  the  Trojans;  and  Hector  "of 
the  dancing  helm-crest "  drives  the  besiegers  to  their  ships. 

At  length  Achilles,  still  unwilling  to  join  in  the  fray  him- 
self, allows  Patro'clus,  his  bosom-friend,  to  lead  his  Myrmidons 
to  the  rescue.  Arrayed  in  the  armor  of  the  Thessalian  chief, 
Patroclus  puts  to  flight  the  deceived  Trojans ;  but,  pursuing 
them  too  far,  receives  a  death-wound  from  the  hand  of  Hec- 
tor. The  news  of  his  friend's  fall  fills  Achilles  with  thirst 
for  revenge.  A  reconciliation  is  effected  with  Agamemnon  ; 
Achilles  returns  to  the  field  ;  the  enemy  are  thrown  into  con- 
fusion ;  and  Hector,  pierced  by  his  spear,  is  dragged  in  triumph 
at  Achilles'  chariot-wheels.  The  wrath  of  the  Greek  hero  is 
finally  appeased  by  the  sacrifice  of  twelve  Trojan  captives  at 
the  funeral  of  Patroclus. 

To  redeem  the  body  of  his  son,  old  Priam,  alone  and  un- 
armed, enters  the  Grecian  camp,  is  well  received  by  Achilles, 
who  melts  into  pity  at  the  sight  of  the  grief-stricken  suppliant, 


HOMER'S  ILIAD.  143 

accomplishes  his  purpose,  and  returns  to  Troy  with  Hector's 
corpse.  This  meeting  between  Achilles  and  Priam  is  counted 
among  the  finest  scenes. — The  Iliad  closes  with  the  obsequies 
of  Hector. 

Achilles,  the  central  figure  of  the  poem,  over  whose  grave 
Alexander  wept  jealous  tears,  was  the  impersonation  of  youth 
ful  beauty  and  physical  prowess.  Brave,  generous,  passionate, 
devoted  in  his  friendship  but  awful  in  his  implacable  anger,  in 
him  we  are  brought  face  to  face  with  the  ideal  of  Greek  chiv- 
alry. Hector,  the  magnanimous  Trojan  hero,  was  the  type  of 
moral  courage  and  domestic  virtue.  He  appears  as  the  affec- 
tionate husband,  the  loving  father,  kind  even  to  fallen  Helen. 
Homer  has  painted  with  exquisite  touch  a  parting  scene  be- 
tween Hector  and  his  consort  Androm'ache,  possessed  of  ev- 
ery wifely  virtue.  This  passage,  herewith  presented,  is  pro- 
nounced the  most  beautiful  in  the  Iliad. 

PARTING  OF  HECTOR  AND  ANDROMACHE. 

"  Hector  left  in  haste 

The  mansion,  and  retraced  his  way  between 
The  rows  of  stately  dwellings,  traversing 
The  mighty  city.     When  at  length  he  reached 
The  Scteaii  gates,  that  issue  on  the  field, 
His  spouse,  the  nobly  dowered  Andromache, 
Came  forth  to  meet  him — daughter  of  the  prince 
Ei-tion,  who,  among  the  woody  slopes 
Of  Placos,  in  the  Hypoplacian  town 
Of  Thebe,*  ruled  Cilicia  and  her  sons, 
And  gave  his  child  to  Hector  great  in  arms. 
She  came  attended  by  a  maid,  who  bore 
A  tender  child — a  babe  too  yonug  to  speak — 
Upon  her  bosom ;  Hector's  only  son, 
Beautiful  as  a  star,  whom  Hector  called 
Scamandrius,  but  all  else  Astyanax, — 
The  city's  lord, — since  Hector  stood  the  sole 
Defence  of  Troy.     The  father  on  his  child 
Looked  with  a  silent  smile.     Andromache 


*  A  city  southeast  of  Troy,  situated  at  the  base  of  Mount  Pla'cos,  and  hence 
called  Hypoplacian  (under  Placos). 


144  GRECIAN  LITERATURE. 

Pressed  to  his  side  meanwhile,  and  all  in  teara 
Clung  to  his  hand,  and,  thus  beginning,  said : — 

'  Too  brave !  thy  valor  yet  will  cause  thy  death. 
Thou  hast  no  pity  on  thy  tender  child, 
Nor  me,  unhappy  oue,  who  soon  must  be 
Thy  widow.     All  the  Greeks  will  rush  on  thee 
To  take  thy  life.     A  happier  lot  were  mine, 
If  I  must  lose  thee,  to  go  down  to  earth, 
For  I  shall  have  no  hope  when  thou  art  gone, — 
Nothing  but  sorrow.     Father  have  I  none, 
And  no  dear  mother.     Great  Achilles  slew 
My  father,  when  he  sacked  the  populous  town 
Of  the  Ciliciaus, — Thebe  with  high  gates. 
'Twas  there  ho  smote  Eetiou,  yet  forbore 
To  make  his  arms  a  spoil ;  he  dared  not  that, 
But  burned  the  dead  \vitli  his  bright  armor  on. 
And  raised  a  mound  above  him.     Mountain  nymphs, 
Daughters  of  segis-bearing*  Jupiter, 
Came  to  the  spot  and  planted  it  with  elms. 
Seven  brothers  had  J  in  my  father's  house, 
And  all  went  down  to  Hades  in  one  day ; 
Achilles  the  swift-footed  slew  them  all 
Anioug  their  slow-paced  bullocks  and  white  sheep. 
My  mother,  princess  on  the  woody  slopes 
Of  Placos,  with  his  spoils  he  bore  away, 
And  only  for  large  ransom  gave  her  back. 
But  her  Diana,  archer-queen,  struck  down 
Within  her  father's  palace.     Hector,  thou 
Art  father  and  dear  mother  now  to  me, 
And  brother  aud  my  youthful  spouse  besides. 
In  pity  keep  within  the  fortress  here, 
Nor  make  thy  child  an  orphan  nor  thy  wife 
A  widow.' 

Then  answered  Hector,.great  in  war:  'All  this 
I  bear  in  mind,  dear  wife ;  but  I  should  staud 
Ashamed  before  the  men  and  long-robed  dames 
Of  Troy,  were  I  to  keep  aloof  aud  shun 
The  conflict,  coward-like.     Not  thus  my  heart 
Prompts  me,  for  greatly  have  I  learned  to  dare 
And  strike  among  the  foremost  sous  of  Troy, 
Upholding  my  great  father's  fame  and  mine ; 
Yet  well  in  my  uudoubtiug  mind  I  know 


*  The  aegis  was  Jupiter's  shield,  which  inspired  fear,  and  caused  darkness, 
clouds,  and  storms. 


EXTRACT   FEOM  THE   ILIAD.  145 

The  day  shall  come  in  which  our  sacred  Troy, 

Ami  Priam,  and  the  people  over  whom 

Spear-bearing  Priam  rules,  shall  perish  all. 

But  not  the  sorrows  of  the  Trojan  race, 

Nor  those  of  Hecuba*  herself,  nor  those 

Of  royal  Priam,  nor  the  woes  that  wait 

My  brothers  many  and  brave, — who  all  at  last, 

Slain  by  the  pitiless  foe,  shall  lie  in  dust, — 

Grieve  me  so  much  as  thine,  when  some  mailed  Greek 

Shall  lead  thee  weeping  hence,  and  take  from  thee 

Thy  day  of  freedom.     Thou  in  Argos  then 

Shalt,  at  another's  bidding,  ply  the  loom, 

And  from  the  fountain  of  Messeis  draw 

Water,  or  from  the  Hypereian  spring, 

Constrained,  unwilling  try  thy  cruel  lot. 

And  then  shall  some  one  say  who  sees  thee  weep, 

"  This  was  the  wife  of  Hector,  most  renowned 

Of  the  horse-taming  Trojans,  when  they  fought 

Around  their  city."     So  shall  some  one  say, 

And  thou  shalt  grieve  the  more,  lamenting  him 

Who  haply  might  have  kept  afar  the  day 

Of  thy  captivity.     Oh !  let  the  earth 

I3e  heaped  above  my  head  in  death,  before 

I  hear  thy  cries  as  thou  art  borne  away !' 

So  speaking,  mighty  Hector  stretched  his  arms 
To  take  the  boy ;  the  boy  shrank  crying  back 
To  his  fair  nurse's  bosom,  scared  to  see 
His  father  helmeted  in  glittering  brass, 
And  eying  with  affright  the  horse-hair  plume 
That  grimly  nodded  from  the  lofty  crest. 
At  this  both  parents  in  their  fondness  laughed ; 
And  hastily  the  mighty  Hector  took 
The  helmet  from  his  brow,  and  laid  it  down 
Gleaming  upon  the  ground  ;  and,  having  kissed 
His  darling  son  and  tossed  him  up  in  play, 
Prayed  thus  to  Jove,  and  all  the  gods  of  heaven  : — 

'  O  Jupiter  and  all  ye  deities, 
Vouchsafe  that  this  my  sou  may  yet  become 
Among  the  Trojans  eminent  like  me, 
And  nobly  rule  in  Ilium.     May  they  say, 
"  This  man  is  greater  than  his  father  was  !" 
When  they  behold  him  from  the  battle-field 
Bring  back  the  bloody  spoil  of  the  slain  foe, — 
That  so  his  mother  may  be  glad  at  heart.' 


*  His  mother,  Priam's  wife,  king  of  Troy. 


146  GRECIAN   LITERATURE. 

So  speaking,  to  the  arms  of  his  dear  spouse 
He  gave  the  boy ;  she  on  her  fragrant  breast 
Received  him,  weeping  as  she  smiled.     The  chief 
Beheld,  and,  moved  with  tender  pity,  smoothed 
Her  forehead  gently  with  his  hand  and  said : — 

'  Sorrow  not  thus,  beloved  one,  for  me. 
No  living  man  can  send  me  to  the  shades 
Before  my  time  ;  no  man  of  woman  born, 
Coward  or  brave,  can  shun  his  destiny. 
But  go  thou  home,  and  tend  thy  labors  there, — • 
The  web,  the  distaff, — and  command  thy  maids 
To  speed  the  work.     The  cares  of  war  pertain 
To  all  rneu  born  in  Troy,  and  most  to  me.' 

Thus  speaking,  mighty  Hector  took  again 
His  helmet,  shadowed  with  the  horse-hair  plume, 
While  homeward  his  beloved  consort  went, 
Oft  looking  back  and  shedding  many  tears. 
Soon  was  she  in  the  spacious  palace-halls 
Of  the  man-queller  Hector.     There  she  found 
A  troop  of  maidens, — with  them  all  she  shared 
Her  grief;  and  all  in  his  own  house  bewailed 
The  living  Hector  whom  they  thought  no  more 
To  see  returning  from  the  battle-field, 
Safe  from  the  rage  and  weapons  of  the  Greeks." 

BRYAXT. 

The  ancients  implicitly  believed  the  story  of  the  Iliad,  but 
modern  scepticism  has  doubted  its  truth  and  questioned  the 
authenticity  of  the  poem  itself.  The  German  critic  Wolf  and 
others  have  even  gone  so  far  as  to  deny  that  any  such  person 
as  Homer  ever  existed,  contending  that  the  name  means 
simply  a  fitter  together  en -compiler,  and  that  the  great  epic  is  a 
mosaic  of  romantic  legends  by  different  rhapsodists,  for  years 
kept  from  perishing  merely  by  oral  repetition. 

Such,  however,  is  the  continuity  of  the  narrative,  the  identity 
of  style,  the  consistency  in  carrying  out  the  several  characters, 
that  this  theory,  ingeniously  as  it  has  been  urged,  lacks  credi- 
bility. We  see  no  reason  to  doubt  that,  despite  a  few  minor 
discrepancies,  one  great  intellect  gave  birth  in  the  main  to 
both  these  epics ;  that  whatever  foundations  for  them  may 
have  been  laid  in  previous  ballads,  the  glorious  superstruct- 


THE    ODYSSEY.  147 

ures  were  reared  by  one  master-builder.  It  is  easier  to  be- 
lieve that  there  was  one  transcendent  genius,  than  that  there 
were  half  a  dozen  of  uniform  poetic  power,  competent  to  have 
had  a  hand  in  works  so  glorious — works  displaying  perfect 
unity  of  design,  and  taste  so  faultless  that  from  them,  as 
standards,  have  been  deduced  the  very  principles  of  criticism 
and  laws  of  epic  poetry. 

Besides  the  internal  evidence  of  its  authenticity,  the  histor- 
ical facts  woven  into  the  Iliad  have  just  received  unexpected 
confirmation  in  the  discoveries  of  Dr.  Schliemann,  a  German 
explorer  who  claims  to  have  unearthed  the  Ilium  of  Homer, 
and  to  have  found  among  its  ruins  gold  and  amber  ornaments 
once  worn  by  King  Priam. 

Plan  of  the  Odyssey.— In  the  Odyssey,  divided  like  the  Iliad 
into  twenty-four  books,  Homer  has  immortalized  the  story  of 
the  return- voyage  of  Ulysses  (Odysseus  in  Greek)  from  Troy 
to  Ithaca.  After  a  series  of  remarkable  adventures  and  hair- 
breadth escapes,  the  hero  is  cast  on  the  lovely  island  of  the 
sea-nymph  Calypso,  who,  becoming  enamored  of  him,  detains 
him  for  seven  years.  During  this  time,  a  number  of  insolent 
suitors  force  themselves  upon  Ulysses'  faithful  wife  Penelope, 
take  up  their  residence  at  her  court,  and  there  lead  a  riotous 
life,  hoping  that  the  queen  will  bestow  her  hand  on  one  of 
them  and  thus  make  him  lord  of  Ithaca.  They  even  plan  the 
murder  of  her  son  Telem'achus. 

Admonished  by  Jupiter,  Calypso  reluctantly  allows  Ulysses 
to  depart,  and  he  finally  reaches  Ithaca  in  safety.  Disguised 
as  a  beggar,  he  enters  his  palace  after  an  absence  of  twenty 
years,  to  endure  the  insults  of  the  suitors,  but  to  concert  with 
his  son  for  their  overthrow. 

On  the  following  day,  a  great  festival  is  held,  and  Penelope 
agrees  to  give  her  hand  to  him  who  shall  send  an  arrow  from 
Ulysses'  bow  through  a  row  of  twelve  rings.  The  suitors  try 
in  turn  without  success ;  but  the  beggar,  obtaining  possession 


148  GRECIAN    LITEEATUEE. 

of  the  bow,  draws  the  shaft  to  its  head  and  accomplishes  the 
feat.  Then  turning  on  the  trembling  suitors,  he  showers  his 
arrows  among  them,  and  none  escape.  The  true  -  hearted 
Penelope  is  restored  to  him  whom  she  had  wept  as  lost,'  and 
husband  and  wife  sit  down  together  to  talk  over  the  sorrows 
of  the  past 

"  She  told  him  of  the  scorn  and  wrong 

She  long  had  suffered  in  her  house, 
From  the  detested  suitor  throng, 

Each  wooing  her  to  be  his  spouse ; 
How,  for  their  feasts,  her  sheep  and  kine 
Were  slaughtered,  while  they  quaffed  her  wine 

In  plentiful  carouse. 

And  he,  the  nohle  wanderer,  spoke 

Of  many  a  deed  of  peril  sore, 
Of  men  who  fell  beneath  his  stroke, 

Of  all  the  sorrowing  tasks  he  bore. 
She  listened  with  delighted  ear ; 
Sleep  never  came  her  eyelids  near, 

Till  all  the  tale  was  o'er." 

Ulysses  next  discovers  himself  to  his  father;  and  they  two, 
with  their  friends,  succeed  in  putting  down  the  adherents  of 
the  suitors  and  restoring  peace  to  the  kingdom. 

Among  the  most  beautiful  passages  of  the  Odyssey  is  that 
in  wliich  the  poet  introduces  us  to  the  happy  household  of 
Alcinoiis,  king  of  an  island  on  which  Ulysses  was  thrown. 
Charming  is  the  simple  sketch  he  gives  of  the  unaffected 
princess  of  this  isle,  just  before  her  marriage,  driving  her 
maidens  to  the  river  in  her  father's  chariot,  to  wash  the  robes 
of  state,  lunch,  and  disport  upon  the  bank  while  the  clothes 
are  drying.  The  royal  mother  superintends  the  weaving,  the 
royal  daughter  the  washing.  We  quote  Homer's  description 
of  the 

PALACE  AND  GARDEN  OF  ALCINOUS. 

"  Ulysses,  then,  toward  the  palace  moved 
Of  King  Alcinoiis,  but  immersed  in  thought 
Stood  first  and  paused,  ere  with  his  foot  he  pressed 


EXTRACT   FKOM   THE    ODYSSEY.  149 

The  brazen  threshold ;  for  a  light  he  saw, 
As  of  the  sun  or  moon,  illuming  clear 
The  palace  of  Phseacia's  mighty  king. 

Walls  plated  bright  with  brass  on  either  side 
Stretched  from  the  portal  to  the  interior  house, 
With  azure  cornice  crowned ;  the  doors  were  gold, 
Which  shut  the  palace  fast ;  silver  the  posts 
Reared  on  a  brazen  threshold,  and  above, 
The  lintels,  silver  architraved  with  gold. 
Mastiffs,  in  gold  and  silver,  lined  the  approach 
On  either  side,  by  art  celestial  framed 
Of  Vulcan,  guardians  of  Alcinoiis'  gate 
Forever,  unobnoxious  to  decay. 
Sheer  from  the  threshold  to  the  inner  honse 
Fixed  thrones  the  walls,  through  all  their  length,  adorned, 
With  mantles  overspread  of  subtlest  warp 
Transparent,  work  of  many  a  female  hand. 
On  these  the  princes  of  Phseacia  sat, 
Holding  perpetual  feasts,  while  golden  youths 
On  all  the  sumptuous  altars  stood,  their  hands 
With  burning  torches  charged,  which,  night  by  night, 
Shed  radiance  over  all  the  festive  throng. 

Full  fifty  female  menials  served  the  king 
In  household  offices ;  the  rapid  mills 
These  turning,  pulverize  the  mellowed  grain ; 
Those,  seated  orderly,  the  purple  fleece 
Wind  off,  or  ply  the  loom,  restless  as  leaves 
Of  lofty  poplars  fluttering  in  the  breeze ; 
Bright  as  with  oil  the  new-wrought  texture  shone. 

Without  the  court,  and  to  the  gates  adjoined, 
A  spacious  garden  lay,  fenced  all  around 
Secure,  four  acres  measuring  complete. 
There  grew  luxuriant  many  a  lofty  tree, 
Pomegranate,  pear,  the  apple  blushing  bright, 
The  honeyed  fig,  and  unctuous  olive  smooth. 
Those  fruits  nor  winter's  cold  nor  summer's  heat 
Fear  ever,  fail  not,  wither  not,  but  hang 
Perennial,  whose  unceasing  zephyr  breathes 
Gently  on  all,  enlarging  these,  and  those 
Maturing  genial ;  in  an  endless  course 
Pears  after  pears  to  full  dimensions  swell, 
Figs  follow  figs,  grapes  clustering  grow  again 
Where  clusters  grew,  and  (every  apple  stripped) 
The  boughs  soon  tempt  the  gatherer  as  before. 

There  too,  well-rooted,  and  of  fruit  profuse, 
His  vineyard  grows ;  part,  wide-extended,  basks 
In  the  sun's  beams ;  the  arid  level  glows ; 


150  GKECIAN    LITEKATUKE. 

In  part  they  gather,  and  in  part  they  tread 

The  wine-press,  while,  before  the  eye,  the  grapes 

Here  put  their  blossom  forth,  there  gather  fast 

Their  blackness.     On  the  garden's  verge  extreme 

Flowers  of  all  hues  smile  all  the  year,  arranged 

With  neatest  art  judicious,  and  amid 

The  lovely  scene  two  fountains  welling  forth, 

One  visits,  into  every  part  diffused, 

The  garden  ground,  the  other  soft  beneath 

The  threshold  steals  into  the  palace  court, 

Whence  every  citizen  his  vase  supplies. 

Such  were  the  ample  blessings  on  the  house 
Of  King  Alcmoiis  by  the  gods  bestowed." — COWPEK. 

Minor  Poems  of  Homer. — The  Iliad  and  the  Odyssey  are  the 
only  authentic  productions  of  Homer.  To  their  author,  how- 
ever, have  been  attributed  about  thirty  hymns  and  several 
minor  poems,  which  have  little  claim  to  so  distinguished  an 
origin.  Of  these,  "  the  Margites,"  a  satire  on  a  blockhead 
who  knew  much  "  but  everything  knew  ill,"  was  probably 
the  work  of  some  clever  Athenian  in  an  age  when  epic  poe- 
try was  a  thing  of  the  past ;  the  poem  is  no  longer  extant. 

"  The  Battle  of  the  Frogs  and  Mice,"  a  mock  heroic  of  com- 
paratively modern  birth,  is  still  preserved  and  appreciated. 
It  is  a  witty  burlesque  on  the  Iliad  (perhaps  the  earliest  bur- 
lesque extant),  written  in  a  bold  and  flowing  style.  The  plot 
is  brief.  A  mouse,  Crumb-snatcher,  son  of  the  Mice-king,  fly- 
ing from  an  enemy,  reaches  a  pool  over  which  a  courteous 
frog,  Puff-cheek,  undertakes  to  carry  him.  But  during  the 
passage  a  water-snake  appears ;  the  frightened  frog  dives  to 
escape  his  foe,  and  thoughtlessly  leaves  his  newly-made  friend 
to  drown.  The  mice  gather  to  avenge  the  loss  of  their  prince; 
a  great  battle  ensues,  and  but  for  the  interference  of  Jupiter 
the  frogs  would  have  been  annihilated. 

The  so-called  HOMERIC  HYMNS,  which  the  ancients  believed 
to  be  the  work  of  Homer,  if  somewhat  inferior  in  age  to  the 
Iliad  and  Odyssey,  are  undoubtedly  older  than  the  pieces 
named  above.  Those  addressed  to  Apollo,  Mercury,  Venus, 


THE    HOMERIC    HYMNS.  151 

and  Ceres,  the  finest  in  the  collection,  are  regular  poems  of 
some  length;  the  others  are  simple  eulogies  or  brief  preludes 
to  longer  pieces.  The  Hymn  to  Venus  has  a  tenderness  and 
warmth  not  unworthy  of  Homer.  The  one  in  honor  of  Ceres 
relates  the  abduction  of  her  daughter  Pros'erpine  by  Pluto, 
•king  of  the  lower  world,  the  mother's  search  for  the  stolen 
maiden,  her  anger  on  discovering  the  ravisher,  and  the  final 
arrangement  that  the  goddess  shall  enjoy  the  society  of  her 
daughter  during  two-thirds  of  the  year.  As  a  favorable  speci- 
men of  its  style,  we  cite  the  lines  that  follow : — 

THE  ABDUCTION  OF  PROSERPINE. 

"  In  Nysia's  vale,  with  nymphs  a  lovely  train, 
Sprung  from  the  hoary  father  of  the  main, 
Fair  Proserpine  consumed  the  fleeting  hours 
In  pleasing  sports,  and  plucked  the  gaudy  flowers. 

Around  them  wide  the  flamy  crocus  glows, 
Through  leaves  of  verdure  blooms  the  opening  rose  ; 
The  hyacinth  declines  his  fragrant  head, 
And  purple  violets  decklh'  enamelled  mead. 
The  fair  Narcissus  far  above  the  rest, 
By  magic  formed,  in  beauty  rose  confessed. 
So  Jove,  t'  ensnare  the  virgin's  thoughtless  mind, 
And  please  the  ruler  of  the  shades,  designed. 

He  caused  it  from  the  opening  earth  to  rise, 
Sweet  to  the  scent,  alluring  to  the  eyes. 
Never  did  mortal  or  celestial  power 
Behold  such  vivid  tints  adorn  a  flower. 
From  the  deep  root  a  hundred  branches  sprung, 
And  to  the  winds  ambrosial  odors  flung ; 
Which,  lightly  wafted  on  the  wings  of  air, 
The  gladdened  earth  and  heaven's  wide  circuit  share. 
The  joy-dispensing  fragrance  spreads  around, 
And  ocean's  briny  swell  with  smiles  is  crowned. 

Pleased  at  the  sight,  nor  deeming  danger  nigh, 
The  fair  beheld  it  with  desiring  eye : 
Her  eager  hand  she  stretched  to  seize  the  flower, 
(Beauteous  illusion  of  the  ethereal  power!) 
When,  dreadful  to  behold,  the  rocking  ground 
Disparted — widely  yawned  a  gulf  profound ! 
Forth  rushing  from  the  black  abyss,  arose 
The  gloomy  monarch  of  the  realm  of  woes, 


152  GRECIAN    LITERATURE. 

Pluto,  from  Saturn  sprung.     The  trembling  maid 
He  seized,  and  to  bis  golden  car  conveyed. 
Borne  by  immortal  steeds  the  chariot  flies : 
And  thus  she  pours  her  supplicating  cries : — 

'  Assist,  protect  me,  thou  Avho  reign'st  above, 
Supreme  and  best  of  gods,  paternal  Jove !' 
But  ah !  in  vain  the  hapless  virgin  rears 
Her  wild  complaint :  nor  god  nor  mortal  hears ! 
Not  to  the  white-armed  nymphs  with  beauty  crowned, 
Her  loved  companions,  reached  the  mournful  sound." 

HOLE. 

There  are  also  various  fragments  styled  Homeric,  supposed 
to  have  been  dropped  from  the  poet's  genuine  or  spurious 
works.  Among  these  is  the  beautiful  couplet  quoted  by 
Plato  :— 

"  Asked  and  unasked,  thy  blessings  give,  O  Lord ! 
The  evil,  though  we  ask  it,  from  us  ward." 

Cyclic  Poets. — After  the  death  of  Homer,  a  host  of  imitators 
sprung  up  in  Greece  and  Asia  Minor.  Rhapsodists  by  pro- 
fession, as  they  wandered  among  the  Grecian  cities  reciting 
the  Homeric  poems,  their  attention  was  naturally  directed  to 
epic  composition,  and  they  sought  to  supply  in  verse  like  Ho- 
mer's what  the  Iliad  and  Odyssey  had  left  untold.  Confining 
themselves  to  the  Cycle  (circle)  of  the  Trojan  War,  they  were 
called  Cyc'lic  poets. 

One  bard  sung  of  the  preparations  made  by  the  Grecian 
chiefs  and  the  events  of  the  war  prior  to  Achilles'  withdrawal ; 
two  others  took  up  the  narrative  where  the  Iliad  left  it,  and 
described  the  sack  of  Troy ;  a  fourth  celebrated  the  return 
voyages  of  the  Greek  heroes;  a  fifth  supplemented  the  Odys- 
sey with  the  later  history  of  Ulysses.  Fragments  only  of 
these  Cyclic  epics  survive. 

HESIOD    AND   HIS   WORKS. 

Hesiod. — Homer  was  an  Ionian  of  Asia  Minor.  Shortly 
after  his  time,  or,  as  some  think,  contemporaneously  with  him, 
a  new  school  of  epic  poetry  appeared  in  the  mother-country. 


HESIOI    AND   HIS   WORKS.  153 

Its  founder  was  Hesiod,  who,  like  Homer,  wrote  in  the  Ionic 
dialect. 

Hesiod  was  born  at  Ascra  in  Boeotia,  and  brought  up  in  the 
midst  of  rural  life  at  the  base  of  Mount  Helicon.  Here  first 
he  held  free  converse  with  the  Muses.  On  his  father's  death, 
he  was  defrauded  of  his  portion  of  the  estate  by  his  younger 
brother  Perses,  who  bribed  the  judges  charged  with  making 
the  division.  Hesiod  felt  the  wrong  keenly,  yet  seems  to  have 
regarded  his  unnatural  brother  with  fraternal  interest ;  for  one 
object  of  his  poem  entitled  "Works  and  Days,"  was  to  reclaim 
Perses  from  dissolute  improvidence  and  incite  him  to  a  life  of 
industry. 

The  first  portion  of  this  work  i3  devoted  to  moral  lessons ; 
some  in  a  proverbial  form,  and  others  illustrated  by  narratives 
and  fables.  The  latter  part  contains  practical  directions  for 
the  husbandman,  and  also  treats  of  the  art  of  navigation,  im- 
portant to  the  Boeotian  farmer  because  much  of  his  produce 
was  shipped  to  other  countries.  The  whole  abounds  in  ex- 
cellent precepts  for  every-day  life,  and  forms  the  earliest  spec- 
imen of  didactic  poetry  among  the  Greeks.  For  ages  its  lines 
were  committed  to  memory  and  recited  as  part  of  the  course 
of  ethics  in  their  schools. 

FROM  HESIOD'S  WORKS  AND  DAYS. 
EIGHT  AND   WRONG, 

"  Wrong,  if  he  yield  to  its  abhorred  control, 
Shall  pierce  like  iron  to  the  poor  man's  soul : 
Wrong  weighs  the  rich  man's  conscience  to  the  dust, 
When  his  foot  stumbles  on  the  way  unjust. 
Far  different  is  the  path,  a  path  of  light, 
That  guides  the  feet  to  equitable  right : 
The  end  of  righteousness,  enduring  long, 
Exceeds  the  short  prosperity  of  wrong. 
The  fool  by  suffering  his  experience  buys ; 
The  penalty  of  folly  makes  him  wise. 
But  they  who  never  from  the  right  have  strayed, 
Who  as  the  citizen  the  stranger  aid, 

G 


154  GRECIAN   LITERATURE. 

They  and  their  cities  flourish :  genial  Peace 

Dwells  in  their  borders ;  and  their  youth  increase  : 

Nor  Jove,  whose  radiant  eyes  behold  afar, 

Hangs  forth  in  heaven  the  signs  of  grievous  war. 

Nor  scathe  nor  famine  on  the  righteous  prey ; 

Feasts,  strewn  by  earth,  employ  their  easy  day : 

Rich  are  their  mountain  oaks ;  the  topmost  trees 

With  clustering  acorns  full,  the  trunks  with  hiving  bees. 

Still  flourish  they,  nor  tempt  with  ships  the  main ; 

The  fruits  of  earth  are  poured  from  every  plain. 

But  o'er  the  Avicked  race,  to  whom  belong 
The  thought  of  evil,  and  the  deed  of  wrong, 
Saturniau  Jove,  of  wide  beholding  eyes, 
Bids  the  dark  signs  of  retribution  rise. 
The  god  sends  down  his  angry  plagues  from  high, 
Famine  and  pestilence :  in  heaps  they  die. 
Again,  in  vengeance  of  his  wrath  he  falls 
Oil  their  great  hosts,  and  breaks  their  tottering  walls ; 
Arrests  their  navies  on  the  ocean's  plain, 
And  whelms  their  strength  with  mountains  of  the  main." 

ELTON. 


SOME  OF  IIESIOD'S  PROVERBS. 

"Than  wife  that's  good  man  finds  no  greater  gain, 
But  feast-frequenting  mates  are  simply  bane. 

Invisible,  the  gods  are  ever  nigh. 

Senseless  is  he  who  dares  with  power  contend. 

Know  then  this  awful  truth :  it  is  not  given 
To  elude  the  wisdom  of  omniscient  Heaven. 

Toil,  and  the  slothful  man  shall  envy  thee. 

The  more  children,  the  more  cares. 

Sometimes  a  day  is  a  step-mother,  sometimes  a  mother. 

Whoever  forgeth  for  another  ill, 
With  it  himself  is  overtaken  still. 

The  procrastinator  has  ever  to  contend  with  loss. 

The  idler  never  shall  his  garners  fill. 

The  lips  of  moderate  speech  with  grace  are  hung. 

When  on  your  home  falls  unforeseen  distress, 
Half-clothed  come  neighbors  ;  kinsmen  stay  to  dress. 

Justice  is  a  virgin  pure. 

The  road  to  vice  is  broad  and  easy ;  that  of  virtue,  difficult,  long, 
and  steep. 


HESIOD'S  POETRY.  155 

Fools  !  not  to  know  how  better  for  the  soul, 
Au  honest  half  than  an  ill-gotten  whole. 

Oh!  gorged  with  gold,  ye  kingly  judges  hear! 

Make  straight  your  paths ;  your  crooked  judgments  fear. 

How  richer  he  who  dines  on  herbs  with  health 

Of  heart,  than  knaves  with  all  their  wines  and  wealth. 

He  who  nor  knows  himself,  nor  will  take  rule 
From  those  who  do,  is  either  knave  or  fool." 

Next  in  importance  to  the  "  Works  and  Days  "  is  "  the  The- 
ogony,"  devoted  to  the  genealogy  and  history  of  the  Grecian 
gods,  thirty  thousand  in  number.  Whatever  interest  this  poem 
may  have  possessed  for  the  believer  in  the  Greek  mythology, 
to  the  reader  of  the  present  day  it  is  for  the  most  part  tedious, 
though  relieved  by  occasional  grand  descriptions  of  battles 
between  the  celestial  personages.  "The  Shield  of  Hercules" 
also  bears  the  name  of  Hesiod ;  and  of  works  ascribed  to  him, 
but  not  now  extant,  there  are  about  a  dozen. 

Hesiod  mentions  a  poetical  contest  between  himself  and 
another,  which  took  place  at  the  funeral  of  Amphid'amas,  king 
of  Eubcea,  and  in  which  he  obtained  a  tripod  as  a  prize.  Tra- 
dition mentions  Homer  as  his  competitor  on  that  occasion, 
and  even  gives  the  inscription  placed  on  the  tripod  by  the 

victor : — 

"  This  Hesiod  vows  to  th'  Heliconian  Nine, 
In  Chalcis  won,  from  Homer  the  divine." 

But  this  part  of  the  story  rests  on  insufficient  evidence. 

Hesiod  is  said  to  have  been  slain,  during  a  visit  to  the  Lo- 
crian  town  of  CEnoe,  by  two  brothers,  in  revenge  for  an  insult 
offered  to  their  sister  by  Hesiod's  companion,  which  caused 
her  to  destroy  herself.  The  poet's  body,  thrown  into  the  sea, 
was  brought  to  shore  by  his  dog,  or  as  some  say  by  dolphins. 
Thereupon  the  indignant  people  put  the  murderers  to  death 
and  razed  their  dwellings  to  the  ground — an  incident  which 
shows  the  sacredness  attached  to  the  vocation  of  the  bard  in 
those  early  times. 


156 


AGE    OF   EPIC   POETRY. 


Though  Hesiod  ranks  far  below  Homer,  and  indeed  is  often 
commonplace,  yet  at  times  his  style  exhibits  enthusiasm  and 
even  rises  to  sublimity.  We  must  respect  him  for  the  pure 
morality  of  his  teachings. 


POETS   OF   THE    EPIC    CYCLE. 


ABCTI'NUS  OF  MILE'TUS. 

His  poem  of  9,100  verses  had  Mem- 
non,  an  Ethiopian  chief,  for  its  hero. 
It  treated  of  the  part  taken  in  the 
Trojan  War  by  the  Amazons,  who  ar- 
rived after  Hector's  funeral;  the  death 
of  their  queen,  Penthesile'a,  at  the 
hand  of  Achilles ;  the  fall  of  Achilles 
himself;  and  the  sack  of  Troy. 

LES'CHES  OF  MYTILE'NE. 

Author  of  the  Little  Iliad,  a  supple- 
ment to  the  greater  work  of  that 
name ;  it  took  up  the  narrative 
where  Homer  leaves  off,  and  carried 
it  to  the  fall  of  Troy. 


STASI'NUS  OF  CYPRUS. 

Wrote  the  Cypria,  in  eleven  books, 
narrating  the  events  that  preceded 
the  Trojan  War,  and  the  incidents  of 
the  first  nine  years  of  the  siege. 

A'GIAS  THE  TRCEZENIAN. 

His  epic  in  five  books,  called  Nostoi 
(the  Returns),  was  descriptive  of  the 
home-voyages  of  the  Greek  heroes. 

EC'GAMON  OF  CYRE'XE. 

The  Telegonia,  a  continuation  of  the 
Odyssey  to  the  death  of  Ulysses,  who 
falls  by  the  hand  of  Teleg'onus,  his 
son  bv  Cir'ce. 


NOTES    ON    GREEK    WRITING,    ETC. 

The  language  of  epic  poetry  perhaps  once  the  common  tongue  of  the  people, 
and  merely  elaborated  by  the  bards.  The  art  of  writing,  old  in  Greece ;  while 
there  is  no  positive  evidence  of  its  being  known  before  800  B.C.,  the  historian 
Herodotus  (450  B.C.)  speaks  as  if  it  had  been  familiar  to  his  countrymen  for 
hundreds  of  years.  Homer's  epics,  though  by  some  thought  to  have  been  handed 
down  by  oral  repetition,  probably  written  on  metallic  or  wooden  tablets  by  their 
author.  Hesiod's  works  originally  committed  to  leaden  tables  and  deposited  in 
the  temple  of  the  Boeotian  Muses. 

Greek  papyrus-factories  on  the  Nile,  650  B.C.  Writing  first  extensively  used 
by  priests  and  bards,  particularly  at  the  temple  of  Delphi. 


EARLY   LTKIC   POETRY    OP    GREECE.  157 


CHAPTER    III. 
LYRIC  POETRY. 

Rise  of  Lyric  Poetry. — For  more  than  two  hundred  years 
after  Homer  and  Hesiod,  no  one  worthy  of  the  name  of  poet 
appeared  in  Greece.  Greek  genius  seemed  to  have  exhausted 
itself.  A  few  feeble  imitators  of  the  great  master,  and  epic 
poetry  was  no  more.  The  spirit  of  the  Iliad  and  the  Odyssey 
died  with  the  monarchies  whose  chieftains  they  immortalized. 
When  popular  governments  arose,  the  bard  no  longer  cele- 
brated the  gods  and  demigods  of  the  past,  or  traced  the  gene- 
alogies of  kings,  but  sung  the  glories  of  his  country,  or  poured 
forth  without  restraint  the  emotions  of  his  soul.  Thus  lyric 
poetry  was  the  child  of  liberty. 

Varieties. — At  the  beginning  of  the  seventh  century  B.C., 
there  was  a  new  birth  of  poesy;  Grecian  song  burst  forth 
once  more,  from  hearts  throbbing  with  enthusiasm  at  the  tri- 
umph of  free  institutions.  Solemn  dirges  and  stately  hymns 
chanted  by  olive-crowned  youth  bearing  offerings  to  the  gods, 
were  no  longer  paramount;  ballads  full  of  human  feeling, 
lyrics  appealing  directly  to  the  people — to  the  patriot,  the 
artisan,  the  shepherd,  the  lover,  the  pleasure-seeker — struck 
chords  that  vibrated  in  many  hearts.  Feasts  afforded  fre- 
quent occasions  for  outbursts  of  national  feeling,  it  being  the 
custom  of  the  guests  to  pass  a  branch  of  myrtle  from  hand  to 
hand,  each  as  he  received  it  repeating  an  appropriate  verse. 

A  favorite  banquet-song  of  the  fifth  century  E.G.  was  the 
following  eulogy  of  Harmo'dius  and  Aristogi'ton,  the  Athenian 
heroes  who  slew  the  tyrant  Hipparchus  : — 


158  GRECIAN   LITERATURE. 

"  la  a  wreath  of  myrtle  I'll  wear  my  glaive, 
Like  Harmodius  and  Aristogi'ton  brave, 

Who  striking  the  tyrant  down, 

Made  Athens  a  freeman's  town. 
Harmodius,  our  darling,  thou  art  not  dead! 
Thou  liv'st  in  the  isles  of  the  blest,  'tis  said, 

With  Achilles  first  in  speed, 

And  Tydi'des  Diomede. 

In  a  wreath  of  myrtle  I'll  wear  my  glaive, 
Like  Harmodius  and  Aristogiton  brave, 

When  the  twain  on  Athena's  day 

Did  the  tyrant  Hipparchus  slay. 
For  aye  shall  your  fame  in  the  laud  be  told. 
Harmodius  and  Aristogiton  bold, 

Who,  striking  the  tyrant  down, 

Made  Athens  a  freeman's  town." 

PROF.  CONINGTON. 

The  flower-songs  of  the  Greeks  were  especially  beautiful ; 
children  enjoyed  their  nursery  rhymes ;  while  in  the  Lay  of 
the  Swallow,  the  penniless  bard,  chanting  at  the  gate,  sought 
an  avenue  to  the  charity  of  his  rich  neighbor. 

FEOM  THE  LAY  OF  THE  SWALLOW. 

"  The  swallow  is  here,  the  swallow  is  here, 
She  comes  to  proclaim  the  reviving  year ; 
With  her  jet-black  hood,  and  her  milk-white  breast, 
She  is  come,  she  is  come,  at  our  behest, 
The  harbinger  of  the  beautiful  spring, 
To  claim  your  generous  offering. 
Let  your  bountiful  door  its  wealth  outpour, 
What  is  little  to  you  is  to  us  great  store ; 
A  bunch  of  dry  figs,  and  a  savory  crnse 
Of  pottage  the  swallow  will  not  refuse ; 
With  a  basket  of  cheese  and  a  barley  cake, 
And  a  cup  of  red  wine  our  thirst  to  slake." — MURE. 

The  creations  of  the  lyric  muse  are  graceful,  touching,  and 
true  to  nature.  We  regret  not  to  exchange  the  sublime  heights 
of  epic  poetry  for  an  humbler  field  in  which  we  may  commune 
with  the  joys  and  sorrows,  the  hopes  and  fears,  of  humanity. 
Here,  as  Tegner  says,  Greek  poetry  arises  "  slender,  smooth, 


ELEGIAC   POETRY.  159 

erect  like  the  palm-tree  with  its  rich  yet  symmetrical  crown ; 
and  a  nightingale  sits  among  the  leaves  and  sings." 

THE    ELEGY. 

The  lonians,  first  to  free  themselves  from  kingly  rule,  gave 
to  the  Hellenic  world  the  earliest  forms  of  lyric  poetry, — the 
elegiac  couplet  and  the  lighter  iambic  verse  appropriate  to 
satire.  These  twin-born  metres,  of  Ionian  parentage,  grew  up 
side  by  side  in  Greece.  In  the  elegiac  couplet,  a  dactylic  line 
of  five  feet  or  their  equivalent  followed  the  sonorous  hexam- 
eter,* constituting  a  livelier  measure  than  the  old  heroic  verse, 
which  consisted  of  hexameters  alone. 

The  Greek  elegy  was  not  necessarily  plaintive  ;  on  the  con- 
trary, it  did  good  service  in  rousing  to  action  in  time  oi  war, 
and  gave  fitting  expression  to  the  spirit  of  the  banquet-hall. 

Callinus. — The  inventor  of  this  metre  was  Calli'nus  of 
Eph'esus,  in  Ionia,  who  flourished  between  730  and  678  B.C. 
He  attempted  by  it  to  excite  his  countrymen  against  a  horde 
of  barbarian  invaders ;  but  the  people  were  too  much  ener- 
vated by  intercourse  with  the  effeminate  nations  of  Asia  to 
respond  to  his  thrilling  strains. 

The  following  is  a  fragment  of  Callinus,  perhaps  the  oldest 
war-elegy  in  existence  : — 

"  How  long  will  ye  slumber?    When  will  ye  take  heart, 

And  fear  the  reproach  of  your  neighbors  at  hand  ? 
Fy !  comrades,  to  think  ye  have  peace  for  your  part, 

Whilst  the  sword  and  the  arrow  are  wasting  our  land ! 
Shame !  grasp  the  shield  close !  cover  well  the  bold  breast ! 

Aloft  raise  the  spear  as  ye  march  on  the  foe ! 
With  no  thought  of  retreat,  with  no  terror  confessed, 

Hurl  your  last  dart  in  dying,  or  strike  your  last  blow  I 


*  The  following  lines,  with  their  long  and  short  syllables  distinguished  and 
arranged  as  in  the  dactylic  hexameter  and  pentameter,  will  give  an  idea  of  the 
cadence  of  the  elegiac  couplet : — 

"Give  me  s5me  |  more,"  says  the"  |  miserly  |  man,  though  as  |  rich  as  a  |  Croesus; 
Never  ejnough  In  his  ]  store,  j|  If  he  can  |  get  any  |  more. 


160  GRECIAN   LITERATURE. 

Oh !  'tis  noble  and  glorious  to  fight  for  our  all — 

For  our  country,  our  children,  the  wife  of  our  love ! 
Death  comes  not  the  sooner !  no  soldier  shall  fall 

Ere  his  thread  is  spun  out  by  the  sisters  above. 
Once  to  die  is  man's  doom ;  rush,  rush  to  the  fight ! 

He  cannot  escape,  though  his  blood  were  Jove's  own ; 
For  a  while  let  him  cheat  the  shrill  arrow  by  flight : 

Fate  will  catch  him  at  last  in  his  chamber  aloue. 
Uulamented  he  dies — unregretted?  not  so, 

When,  the  tower  of  his  country,  in  death  falls  the  brave ; 
Thrice  hallowed  his  name  amongst  all,  high  or  low, 

As  with  blessings  alive,  so  with  tears  in  the  grave." 

H.  N.  COLERIDGE. 

Tyrtseus. — Another  proficient  in  this  variety  of  elegy  was 
Tyrtaeus,  supposed  to  have  been  born  in  the  Attic  town  of 
Aphidnae.  He  led  the  Spartans  in  the  Second  Messenian 
War  (685-668  B.C.),  they  having,  by  the  direction  of  an 
oracle,  sent  to  Athens  for  a  general,  to  secure  the  success 
which  had  before  been  denied  them.  The  story  is  that  the 
jealous  Athenians  despatched  to  their  neighbors  a  deformed 
schoolmaster,  the  cripple  Tyrtaeus,  in  the  belief  that  his  ser- 
vices would  be  of  little  value  ;  but  they  mistook.  The  great- 
est military  genius  could  not  have  accomplished  more;  for 
Tyrtaeus,  by  his  wise  counsels  and  inspiriting  war-songs,  made 
his  soldiers  invincible.  Messenia  fell,  and  her  citizens  be- 
came slaves  to  the  Spartans.  Nor,  afterward,  was  the  poetry 
of  Tyrtaeus  less  efficacious  in  quelling  civil  dissensions  and 
establishing  domestic  peace.  In  every  respect,  "the  Muse 
of  Sparta,"  as  he  was  called,  proved  to  be  to  his  adopted 
country  the  blessing  promised  by  the  oracle. 

Tyrtasus  is  said  to  have  invented  the  trumpet,  and  intro- 
duced it  as  a  companion  to  the  flute,  then  the  chief  instrument 
in  use.  Some  have  interpreted  the  lameness  of  the  bard  as 
signifying  his  limping  measure,  the  second  line  of  the  elegiac 
couplet  being,  as  we  have  seen,  a  foot  shorter  than  the  first. 

Of  the  many  productions  of  Tyrtasus,  consisting  of  march- 
ing-songs, as  well  as  warlike  and. political  elegies,  only  a  few 


ELEGIAC   POETKY. — TYKT^US.  161 

fragments  survive.  His  poems,  characterized  by  terseness 
and  impassioned  power,  were  long  popular  among  the  Spar- 
tans, who,  on  a  campaign,  were  wont  to  recite  them  after  each 
evening  meal  to  kindle  afresh  their  martial  fire. 

BATTLE-HYMN  OF  TYRT^US. 

"  Onr  country's  voice  invites  the  bravo 

The  glorious  toils  of  war  to  try ; 
Cursed  be  the  coward,  or  the  slave, 
Who  shuns  the  fight,  who  fears  to  die. 

Obedient  to  the  high  command, 

Full  fraught  with  patriotic  fire, 
Descends  a  small  but  trusty  band, 

And  scarce  restrains  the  impatient  ire. 

Behold  !  the  hostile  crowds  advance ; 

Unyielding,  we  their  might  oppose; 
With  helm  to  helm,  and  lance  to  lance, 

In  awful  pomp  we  meet  our  foes. 

Uuawed  by  fear,  untaught  to  yield, 

We  boldly  tread  the  ensanguined  plain ; 
And  scorn  to  quit  the  martial  field, 

Though  drenched  in  blood, .though  heaped  with  slain. 

For,  though  stern  Death  assail  the  brave, 

His  virtues  endless  life  shall  claim  ; 
His  fame  shall  mock  the  invidious  grave, 

To  times  unborn  a  sacred  name." — LOWTH. 

THE   SATIKE. 

Archilochus  of  Pa'ros  (728-660  B.C.)  was  the  first  great 
satirist,  the  inventor  of  that  rapid,  loosely-constructed  iambic 
measure  so  admirably  adapted  to  his  withering  lampoons. 
The  son  of  a  slave-woman,  Archil'ochus  was  treated  with  in- 
dignity in  his  native  island ;  so  bidding  adieu  to  "  the  figs  and 
fishy  life  "  of  Paros  in  early  youth,  he  sailed  with  a  colony  to 
Tha'sos  in  the  northern  ^Egean.  His  new  home,  however, 
disappointed  his  expectations ;  its  gold-mines  yielded  not  the 
fortune  he  had  dreamed  of,  and  he  denounced  it  as  "  the  sink 

G2 


162  GRECIAN   LITERATURE. 

of  all  Hellenic  ills."  The  colonists  becoming  engaged  in  war 
with  a  neighboring  people,  a  pitched  battle  proved  too  severe 
an  ordeal  for  the  poet's  courage,  and  dropping  his  shield  he 
fled. 

Perhaps  it  was  for  this  cowardly  action,  perhaps  on  account 
of  his  empty  purse,  that  when  he  returned  to  Paros,  one  of  its 
fair  daughters,  who  had  been  his  boyhood's  love,  refused  him 
her  hand.  Her  father,  also,  denied  his  suit ;  whereupon  the 
furious  poet  poured  forth  in  stinging  verses  such  a  torrent  of 
violent  invective  upon  the  girl  and  her  whole  family,  that  she, 
her  father,  and  her  sisters,  are  said  to  have  taken  refuge  from 
his  scurrilous  attacks  in  suicide. 

The  public  odium  thus  excited  drove  Archilochus  from  Pa- 
ros. But  the  brand  of  cowardice  was  upon  him.  The  Spar- 
tans, whose  mothers,  pointing  to  the  battle-field,  were  wont  to 
say  "  Return  with  your  shields  or  upon  them,"  disdained  the 
man  who  could  write, 

"  That  shield  some  Saian  decks,  which,  'gainst  my  grain, 

I  left — fair,  flawless  shield — beside  the  wood. 
Well,  let  it  go !  I  and  my  pnrse  remain  : 

To-morrow's  bull-skin  may  be  just  as  good." 

Insult  met  him  at  every  step,  till  a  poetical  victory  at  the 
Olympic  Games  restored  him  to  popular  favor.  He  went 
back  to  Paros,  an  old  man,  to  redeem  his  reputation  as  a  sol- 
dier by  dying  in  battle  with  the  Naxians.  Then  all  Greece 
awoke  to  the  greatness  of  his  genius ;  and  the  prediction  of 
an  oracle  before  his  birth,  that  he  would  be  "  immortal  among 
men  in  the  glory  of  his  song,"  was  fulfilled. 

Fertility  of  invention,  and  an  intimate  acquaintance  with 
human  nature,  were  conspicuous  in  the  poetry  of  Archilochus. 
Elegies  and  love-songs  flowed  from  his  pen,  and  his  philosophi- 
cal poetry  gained  for  him  from  Plato  the  epithet  of  "Wisest;" 
but  it  was  in  satire  that  classical  writers  conceded  to  him  the 
highest  rank.  Archilochus  likens  himself  to  a  hedgehog  bris- 


SATIRIC   POETRY.  —  ARCHILOCHUS.  103 

tling  with  quills,  whose  "  one  great  resource  is  worth  all  the 
devices  of  more  powerful  animals."  From  his  birthplace,  ill- 
natured  satire  has  been  called  Parian  verse. 

So  little  remains  of  the  writings  of  this  author  that  we  can 
hardly  decide  whether  his  countrymen  judged  aright  in  reck- 
oning him  second  only  to  Homer.  The  two  represented  dis- 
tinct departments  of  poetry  ;  each  in  his  own,  it  was  claimed, 
fell  little  short  of  perfection.  Where  Homer  praised,  Archil- 
ochus  reviled.  Their  birthdays  were  celebrated  in  one  grand 
festival,  and  a  single  double-faced  statue  perpetuated  the  mem- 
ory of  the  Epic  Poet  and  the  Parian  Satirist. 

ARCHILOCHUS  TO  HIS  SOUL. 

"  My  soul,  my  soul,  by  cares  past  all  relief 
Distracted  sore,  bear  up!  with  inanly  breast 
And  dauntless  mien,  each  fresh  assault  of  grief 
Encountering.     By  hostile  weapons  pressed, 
Stand  firm.     Let  no  unlooked-for  triumph  move 
To  empty  exultation,  no  defeat 
Cast  down.     But  still  let  moderation  prove 
Of  life's  uncertain  cup  the  bitter  and  the  sweet." 

MURE. 

Greek  satire  had  other  representatives,  whose  names  will 
be  found  at  the  end  of  this  chapter  ;  but  their  genius  was 
of  a  lower  grade.  •*• 


AND   DOEIC   SCHOOLS. 

Lyric  poetry  was  the  peculiar  province  of  the  ^olian  and 
Dorian  Greeks,  who  carried  it  to  perfection.  The  ^Eolic  writ- 
ers were  replete  with  intense  passion,  and  employed  lively  me- 
tres of  simple  structure.  The  Dorian  lyric,  intended  to  be  sung 
by  choruses  or  to  choral  dances  on  great  occasions,  funerals, 
marriages,  or  public  festivals,  was  a  much  more  majestic,  but 
at  the  same  time  a  more  intricate  and  artificial  composition. 
The  most  distinguished  composers  of  the  y£olic  School  were 
Alcaeus  and  Sappho  ;  of  the  Doric,  Simonides  and  Pindar. 


164  GEECIAN   LITEKATUKE. 

Alcseus  flourished  in  the  latter  part  of  the  seventh  century 
B.C.  He  was  a  noble  of  Lesbos,  and  lived  in  the  stirring  times 
when  the  constitutional  and  the  aristocratic  party  contended 
for  the  sovereignty.  In  this  struggle  Alcaeus  appears  as  the 
deadly  foe  of  democratic  rule ;  when  his  friend  Pittacus  was 
clothed  with  supreme  authority  by  the  people,  Alcaeus  directed 
against  him  the  keenest  shafts  of  his  satire.  Pittacus  defeated 
him  in  an  attempt  to  overthrow  the  government,  but  gener- 
ously spared  his  life,  saying,  "  Forgiveness  is  better  than  re- 
venge." Of  the  poet's  subsequent  career  we  are  ignorant. 

The  ancients  were  loud  in  their  praises  of  Alcaeus.  His 
poems  were  polished,  full  of  vehemence  and  passion,  sublime 
in  their  denunciations  of  tyranny  and  encomiums  of  freedom. 
Love  and  wine  were  two  of  his  favorite  topics ;  yet  even  his 
jovial  pieces  were  pervaded  by  a  loftiness  of  sentiment  foreign 
to  mere  sensual  songs.  Among  his  most  beautiful  composi- 
tions were  the  odes  to  Sappho,  whose  love  he  once  sought,  but 
whose  genius  soared  to  greater  heights  than  his.  We  take 
from  Alcaeus 

THE  CONSTITUTION  OF  A  STATE. 

"  What  constitutes  a  state  ? 
Not  high-raised  battlement  or  labored  mound, 

Thick  wall  or  moated  gate ; 
Not  cities  fair,  with  spires  and  turrets  crowned : 

No : — Men,  high-minded  men, 
With  powers  as  far  above  dull  brutes  endued, 

In  forest,  brake,  or  den, 
As  beasts  excel  cold  rocks  and  brambles  rude — 

Men  who  their  duties  know, 
Know  too  their  rights,  and  knowing,  dare  maintain  j 

Prevent  the  long-aimed  blow, 
And  crush  the  tyrant,  while  they  rend  the  chain." 

SIR  WILLIAM  JONES. 

The  Lesbian  Poetesses. — Lesbos  was  the  centre  of  lyric 
song.  To  its  shores,  the  waves  of  ocean  are  fabled  to  have 
borne  the  lyre  of  Orpheus,  which  the  people  hung  in  Apollo's 


THE  LESBIAN  POETESSES.  165 

temple  :  thus  traditionally  distinguished  by  fate,  it  became 
renowned  as  the  home  of  Grecian  poetesses. 

The  Lesbian  women  were  not  confined  to  domestic  duties, 
but  were  allowed  to  take  part  in  public  affairs.  They  founded 
societies  for  the  cultivation  of  their  literary  tastes,  and  before 
all  Greece  vindicated  the  genius  of  their  sex.  And  Lesbos 
was  the  very  clime  for  poetry  to  ripen  in.  The  love  of  the 
beautiful  was  fed  on  every  side.  The  island  was  a  paradise 
of  groves  and  rivulets,  of  blossoms  and  perfumes.  Among  its 
olive-clad  hills,  at  its  fountains  set  in  violets  and  fringed  with 
fern,  under  its  stately  pines,  and  in  its  temples  shining  with 
ivory  and  gold,  its  poetesses  received  their  inspiration. 

Sappho. — Greatest  of  these,  and  queen  of  her  sex  in  intel- 
lectual endowments,  was  Sappho,  "  the  Lesbian  Nightingale," 
"spotless,  sweetly-smiling,  violet-wreathed,"  as  Alcaeus  fondly 
described  her,  whom  all  Greece  knew  as  The  Poetess. 

In  her  history  it  is  difficult  to  separate  the  true  from  the 
fabulous.  Born  at  Mytile'ne,  the  capital  of  the  island,  in  the 
latter  part  of  the  seventh  century  B.C.,  she  was  deprived  of  a 
mother's  care  at  the  age  of  six.  In  early  womanhood,  a  new 
calamity  befell  her  in  the  loss  of  her  husband,  and  thenceforth 
she  devoted  her  genius  to  letters,  making  the  elevation  of  her 
countrywomen  the  great  object  of  her  life.  Her  reputation 
soon  spread  throughout  Greece.  Mytilene  became  the  seat 
of  a  brilliant  sisterhood  eager  in  the  study  of  the  polished 
arts;  sparkling  conversation  enlivened  its  meetings;  music  and 
poetry  were  the  branches  its  members  specially  cultivated  ; 
love  was  the  common  subject  of  their  verse;  their  lives  were 
above  reproach.  In  the  centre  of  this  constellation  of  gifted 
women  blazed  Sappho,  "  Star  of  Lesbian  Song."  Greece,  cap- 
tivated by  her  sweet  numbers,  accorded  her  a  place  by  Ho- 
mer's side — then  raised  her  to  the  level  of  its  goddesses  as 
"the  Tenth  Muse." 

Ancient  story  made  Sappho  the  victim  of  disappointed  love. 


166 


GRECIAN  LITERATURE. 


Overcome  with  passion  for  Pha'on,  a  beautiful  Mytilenean 
youth  notorious  for  his  heart-breaking  propensities,  and  find- 
ing Phaon  indifferent  to  her  advances,  she  is  said  to  have 
thrown  herself  from  the  Leuca'dian  promontory*  and  drowned 
her  passion  in  the  Ionian  Sea.  There  is,  however,  no  evidence 


TIIE  LOVEE'S  LEAP. 


*  The  Leucadian  promontory  projects  from  the  southern  shore  of  the  island  of 
Leucadia,  off  the  coast  of  Acarnania  (see  Map,  p.  132).  On  the  bluff  stood  a  tem- 
ple of  Apollo,  to  whom,  in  very  ancient  times,  human  sacrifices  were  yearly  of- 
fered, a  victim  being  hurled  from  the  rock  into  the  sea  below.  The  priests  some- 


SAPPHO  AND  HER  STYLE.  167 

to  support  the  story ;  on  the  contrary,  the  poetess  seems  to 
have  been  implicated  with  Alcaeus  in  a  conspiracy  against 
Pittacus,  who  then  ruled  in  Lesbos,  and  to  have  been  banished 
in  consequence.  She  is  thought  to  have  found  an  asylum  in 
Sicily. 

SAPPHO'S  STYLE. — Simplicity,  tenderness,  concentrated  pas- 
sion, and  brilliancy  of  description,  are  characteristic  of  Sap- 
pho's verse..  Her  poetry  is  the  very  language  of  harmony ; 
no  more  musical  measures  than  hers  were  known  to  the 
Greeks.  Her  favorite  stanza,  an  invention  of  her  own,  con- 
sisted of  four  lines  with  a  cadence  like  the  following  : — 

Tenderest  mistress  |  of  the -heart's  emotion, 
Over  whom  love  sweeps  |  as  the  mighty  ocean, 
Unto  thee  pour  we  |  all  our  soul's  devotion, 
Glorious  Sappho ! 

In  depicting  love,  Sappho  is  unmatched.  Her  utterances, 
indeed,  were  so  intense  as  to  be  misconstrued  by  the  sensual 
Greeks  of  a  later  day,  and  give  rise  to  reports  injurious  to  her 
good  name  ;  or  possibly  she  may  have  been  confounded  with 
another  Sappho,  of  a  different  character;  but  we  have  no  doubt 
that  her  life  was  as  pure  as  her  poetry  is  charming.  Her 
imagery,  when  imagery  she  used,  Sappho  gathered  from  the 


times  took  the  place  of  these  unfortunates,  but  on  such  occasions  carefully  avoided 
danger  by  fastening  to  their  persons  flocks  of  live  birds,  the  flapping  of  whose 
pinions  during  the  descent  broke  their  fall.  This  rite  was  gradually  modified; 
and  at  one  time  we  find  the  leap  from  the  cliff  used  as  an  ordeal  to  test  the  guilt 
of  suspected  persons. 

In  Sappho's  day  it  was  customary  for  those  suffering  the  pangs  of  unrequited 
affection  to  take  the  Lover's  Leap  from  the  precipice,  after  secretly  uttering  their 
vows  in  the  sanctuary  of  the  god.  Some,  intent  on  suicide,  were  dashed  to  pieces 
on  the  rocks  below  or  perished  in  the  waves ;  others  took  the  precaution  to  buoy 
themselves  up  with  feathers  or  bladders,  trusting  to  a  plunge  in  the  cold  sea  or 
the  bruises  they  might  receive,  to  cure  their  passion.  Queen  Artemisia,  of  Hali- 
carnassus,  lost  her  life  in  taking  the  Lover's  Leap,  after  putting  out  the  eyes  of 
the  youth  who  would  not  return  her  attachment;  and  one  case  is  recorded  in 
which  a  man  four  times  resorted  to  this  perilous  remedy. — The  modern  Greek 
sailor  still  calls  the  promontory  "  the  Lady's  Cape." 


168  GRECIAN   LITERATURE. 

bright-tinted  flowers,  the  starry  skies,  and  fragrant  zephyrs  of 
Lesbos,  where,  as  she  sung, 

"  Through  orchard  plots,  with  fragrance  crowned, 

The  clear  cold  fountain  murmuring  flows ; 
And  forest  leaves,  with  rustling  sound, 
Invite  to  soft  repose." 

Judging  from  her  fragments,  we  must  admit  that  in  her  pe- 
culiar department  Sappho  stands  without  a  peer.  Indeed,  her 
own  graceful  lines  may  well  be  applied  to  herself: — 

"  The  stars  that  round  the  beauteous  moon 

Attendant  wait,  cast  into  shade 
Their  ineffectual  lustres,  soon 

As  she,  in  full-orbed  majesty  arrayed, 
Her  silver  radiance  showers 
Upon  this  world  of  ours," — 

for  the  lesser  lights  of  lyric  poesy  pale  in  the  lustre  of  her 
genius. 

Addison,  in  his  Spectator,  makes  the  following  remarks  on 
Sappho,  which  are  fully  justified  by  the  praises  of  ancient  crit- 
ics : — "  Among  the  mutilated  poets  of  antiquity,  there  are  none 
whose  fragments  are  so  beautiful  as  those  of  Sappho.  One 
may  see,  by  what  is  left,  that  she  followed  nature  in  all  her 
thoughts,  without  descending  to  those  little  points,  conceits, 
and  turns  of  wit,  with  which  many  of  our  modern  lyrics  are  so 
miserably  infected.  Her  soul  seems  to  have  been  made  up 
of  love  and  poetry.  She  felt  the  passion  in  all  its  warmth  and 
described  it  in  all  its  symptoms.  I  do  not  know,  by  the  char- 
acter that  is  given  of  her  works,  whether  it  is  not  for  the  bene- 
fit of  mankind  that  they  are  lost.  They  were  filled  with  such 
bewitching  tenderness  and  rapture,  that  it  might  have  been 
dangerous  to  have  given  them  a  reading." 

It  is  told  that  a  physician,  by  studying  the  symptoms  of  love 
as  described  by  Sappho,  detected  in  the  mysterious  sickness 
of  the  young  Anti'ochus,  son  of  the  king  of  Syria,  a  hidden 
passion  for  his  step-mother.  The  treatment  was  in  accord- 


SAPPHO'S  POETRY.  169 

ance  with  the  diagnosis,  the  disease  disappearing  when  the 
anxious  father  relinquished  to  the  youth  the  beautiful  object 
of  his  affections. 

Sappho's  description  of  the  raptures  of  love,  commended  by 
all  critics  from  Longinus  down,  is  certainly  a  nonpareil.  It 
has  been  thus  translated  by  Ambrose  Philips,  a  friend  of  Ad- 
dison's : — 

A  LOVE  SONG. 

"  Blest  as  tli'  immortal  gods  is  lie, 
The  youth  who  fondly  sits  by  thee, 
And  hears,  and  sees  thee  all  the  while 
Softly  speak  and  sweetly  smile. 

'Twas  this  deprived  my  soul  of  rest, 
And  raised  such  tumults  in  my  breast ; 
For  while  I  gazed  in  transport  tost, 
My  breath  was  gone,  my  voice  was  lost. 

My  bosom  glowed :  the  subtle  flame 
Ran  quick  through  all  my  vital  frame ; 
O'er  my  dim  eyes  a  darkness  hung ; 
My  ears  with  hollow  murmurs  rung. 

In  dewy  damps  my  limbs  were  chill'd ; 
My  blood  with  gentle  horrors  thrill'd  ; 
My  feeble  pulse  forgot  to  play ; 
I  fainted,  sunk,  and  died  away." 

The  grave  Solon  paid  our  authoress  a  delicate  compliment. 
Having  heard  his  nephew  recite  one  of  her  poems,  he  is  said 
to  have  exclaimed  that  he  would  not  willingly  die  till  he  had 
learned  it  by  heart. 

The  works  of  Sappho,  comprised  in  nine  books,  embraced 
love-lays,  elegies,  bridal  songs  sometimes  extended  into  minia- 
ture dramas,  and  amorous  hymns  to  Venus  and  Cupid.  The 
remnants  are  principally  erotic  pieces.  We  present  below  the 
Hymn  to  Venus,  preserved  entire,  in  which  the  writer  delicate- 
ly makes  the  goddess  her  confidante,  and  modestly  discloses 
the  secret  of  her  misplaced  affections. 


170  GRECIAN   LITERATURE,, 


HYMN  TO  VENUS. 

O  Venus,  beauty  of  the  skies, 

To  whom  a  thousand  temples  rise, 

Gayly  false  iu  gentle  smiles, 

Full  of  love-perplexing  wiles; 

O  goddess !  from  my  heart  remove 

The  wasting  cares  and  pains  of  love. 

If  ever  thou  hast  kindly  heard 
A  song  in  soft  distress  preferred, 
Propitious  to  my  tuneful  vow, 

0  gentle  goddess !  hear  me  now. 
Descend,  thou  bright  immortal  guest, 
In  all  thy  radiant  charms  confessed. 

Thou  once  didst  leave  almighty  Jove, 
And  all  the  golden  roofs  above : 
The  car  thy  wanton  sparrows  drew, 
Hovering  in  air  the^y  lightly  flew  ; 
As  to  my  bower  they  winged  their  way, 

1  saw  their  quivering  pinions  play. 

The  birds  dismissed  (while  you  remain), 
Bore  back  their  empty  car  again. 
Then  yon,  with  looks  divinely  mild, 
In  every  heavenly  feature  smiled, 
And  asked  what  new  complaints  I  made, 
And  why  I  called  you  to  my  aid  : 

What  frenzy  in  my  bosom  raged, 
And  by  what  eure  to  be  assuaged : 
What  gentle  youth  I  would  allure ; 
Whom  iu  my  artful  toils  secure : 
Who  does  thy  tender  heart  subdue, 
Tell  me,  my  Sappho,  tell  me,  who  ? 

Though  now  he  shuns  thy  longing  arms, 
He  soon  shall  court  thy  slighted  charms ; 
Though  now  thy  offerings  he  despise, 
He  soon  to  thee  shall  sacrifice ; 
Though  now  he  freeze,  he  soon  shall  burn, 
And  be  thy  victim  in  his  turn. 


Celestial  visitant,  once  more 
Thy  needful  presence  I  implore ! 


SAPPHO'S  PUPILS.  171 

In  pity  come  aud  ease  my  grief, 
Bring  my  distempered  soul  relief; 
Favor  thy  suppliant's  hidden  fires, 
And  give  me  all  my  heart  desires." 

AMBROSE  PHILIPS. 


THE  ROSE. 

"  Did  Jove  a  queen  of  flowers  decree, 
The  rose  the  queen  of  flowers  should  be ; 
Of  flowers  the  eye ;  of  plants  the  gem ; 
The  meadow's  blush ;  earth's  diadem ; 
Glory  of  colors  on  the  gaze 
Lightening  in  its  beauty's  blaze. 
It  breathes  of  Love ;  it  blooms  the  gnest 
Of  Venus'  ever-fragrant  breast. 
In  gaudy  pomp  its  petals  spread ; 
Light  foliage  trembles  round  its  head ; 
With  vermeil  blossoms  fresh  and  fair 
It  laughs  to  the  voluptuous  air." — ELTON. 

Sappho's  Pupils. — Doubtless  many  went  forth  from  Sappho's 
school  to  reflect,  in  their  own  accomplishments,  the  brilliancy 
of  their  mistress.  History  has  preserved  the  names  of  two  of 
her  pupils — Damoph'yla  of  Asia  Minor,  noted  for  a  Hymn  to 
Diana  ;  and  ERINNA,  a  Rhodian  maid  who  shone  among  the 
brightest  lights  of  Sappho's  circle,  and,  if  we  may  believe  the 
story,  died  of  a  broken  heart  when  compelled  by  her  parents 
to  exchange  the  delights  of  literature  for  the  drudgery  of  the 
spinning-wheel.  This  cruel  treatment  Erinna  made  the  sub- 
ject of  an  affecting  lament,  "the  Spindle,"  a  poem  of  three 
hundred  hexameters,  on  which  her  reputation  rests.  Her 
death  at  the  age  of  nineteen  cheated  the  world  of  a  writer 
who  promised  to  rival  Homer  himself. 

"  The  Spindle "  is  lost ;  but  the  following  epigram  on  a 
virgin  of  Lesbos,  who  died  on  the  day  appointed  for  her 
marriage,  speaks  for  Erinna  : — 

"  The  virgin  Myrtis'  sepulchre  am  I; 

Creep  softly  to  the  pillar'd  mount  of  woe ; 
And  whisper  to  the  grave,  in  earth  below, 
'  Grave !  thou  art  envious  in  thy  cruelty  !' 


172  GRECIAN   LITERATURE. 

To  thee,  now  gazing  here,  her  barbarous  fate 

These  bride's  adornments  tell ;  that,  with  the  fire 

Of  Hymen's  torch,  which  led  her  to  the  gate, 
Her  husband  burned  the  maid  upon  her  pyre : 

Yes,  Hymen  !  thou  didst  change  the  marriage-song 

To  the  shrill  wailing  of  the  mourners'  throng." 

A  pointed  epitaph  in  the  Greek  Anthology  shows  the  esti- 
mation in  which  the  poetess  was  held  by  her  countrymen  : — 

"  These  are  Erinna's  songs :  how  sweet,  though  slight ! 

For  she  was  but  a  girl  of  nineteen  years ; 
Yet  stronger  far  than  what  most  men  can  write  : 
Had  death  delayed,  whose  fame  had  equalled  hers  ?" 

Anacreon. — In  the  sixth  century,  Te'os,  a  seaport  of  Ionia, 
gave  birth  to  the  society  poet,  Anacreon ;  who,  though  an 
Ionian,  wrote  rather  in  the  style  of  the  ^Eolian  lyrics.  His 
verses,  however,  while  soft  and  graceful,  were  marked  by  lev- 
ity, and  lacked  the  dignity  and  depth  of  the  ^Eolic  school. 
"  The  Muse,  good  humor,  love,  and  wine,"  Anacreon  tells  us, 
were  his  themes ;  accordingly  his  songs,  brimming  with  sen- 
suality, grew  in  popular  estimation  as  Greece  degenerated  in 
public  morality. 

When  his  native  city  fell  a  prey  to  Cyrus  the  Persian,  Anac- 
reon with  the  other  inhabitants  set  sail  for  Thrace  (540  B.C.). 
From  Thrace,  while  yet  in  his  youth,  he  withdrew  to  the  island 
of  Sa'mos  whose  tyrant,  Polyc 'rates,  was  a  munificent  patron 
of  literature  and  art.  Amid  the  gayety  of  the  Samian  court, 
the  witty  and  pleasure-loving  poet  found  a  congenial  home, 
Polycrates  making  him  an  intimate  companion  and  confiding 
to  him  important  state  secrets.  But  the  ruler  of  Samos  was 
treacherously  put  to  death  by  a  Persian  satrap ;  about  which 
time,  Anacreon  was  invited  to  Athens  by  the  tyrant  Hippar- 
chus,  who  sent  his  royal  trireme  to  bring  his  poet-laureate 
across  the  .^Egean. 

At  Athens,  Anacreon  for  a  time  gave  free  rein  to  his  pas- 
sions, joining  a  set  of  boon  companions  who  basked  in  the 


ANACREON.  173 

sunshine  of  royal  favor.  His  voluptuous  career  was  cut  short 
by  the  assassination  of  Hipparchus,  and  he  returned  to  Teos 
(repeopled  during  his  absence),  to  be  choked  by  a  grape-seed 
at  the  advanced  age  of  eighty-five — or,  if  we  are  to  take  the 
story  figuratively,  to  fall  a  victim  to  his  irrepressible  love  of 
the  bottle. 

A  statue  of  a  drunken  old  man  on  the  Athenian  acropolis 
kept  alive  in  the  minds  of  the  people  as  well  the  graceful  odes 
of  Anacreon  as  his  prevailing  weakness.  His  friend  Simoni- 
des  wrote  an  epitaph  to  his  memory,  in  which  we  catch  a 
glimpse  of  the  exciting  whirl  of  pleasures  that  made  up  his 
existence : — 

"  Bland  mother  of  the  grape !  all-gladdening  vine ! 

Teeming  inebriate  joy !  whose  tendrils  bloom 
Crisp-woven  in  winding  trail,  now  green  entwine 

This  pillar's  top,  this  mount,  Auacreon's  tomb. 
As  lover  of  the  feast,  the  untempered  bowl, 
"While  the  full  draught  was  reeling  in  his  soul, 
He  smote  upon  the  harp,  whose  melodies 

Were  tuned  to  girlish  loves,  till  midnight  fled ; 
Now,  fallen  to  earth,  embower  him  as  he  lies, 

Thy  purpling  clusters  blushing  o'er  his  head : 
Still  be  fresh  dew  upon  the  branches  hung, 
Like  that  which  breathed  from  his  enchanting  tongue." 

The  name  of  Anacreon  is  attached  to  about  sixty  odes,  but 
they  are  all  probably  from  five  hundred  to  a  thousand  years 
later  than  he.  Yet,  if  they  are  not  by  his  hand,  they  breathe 
his  spirit.  As  a  sample  of  these  Anacreontics,  we  give  a  par- 
aphrase of 

CUPID  AND  THE  BEE. 

Young  Cupid  once  a  rose  caressed, 
And  sportively  its  leaflets  pressed. 
The  witching  thing,  so  fair  to  view 
One  could  not  but  believe  it  true, 
Warmed,  on  its  bosom  false,  a  bee, 
Which  stung  the  boy-god  in  his  glee. 
Sobbing,  he  raised  his  pinions  bright, 
And  flew  unto  the  isle  of  light, 


174  GRECIAN   LITERATURE. 

Where,  in  her  beauty,  myrtle-crowned, 
The  Paphian  goddess  sat  enthroned. 
Her  Cupid  sought,  and  to  her  breast 
His  wounded  tiuger,  weeping,  pressed. 
"  O  mother!  kiss  me,"  was  his  cry — 
"  O  mother!  save  me,  or  I  die  ; 
A  winged  little  snake  or  bee 
With  cruel  stiug  has  wounded  me !" 

The  blooming  goddess  in  her  arms 
Folded  and  kissed  his  budding  charms ; 
To  her  soft  bosom  pressed  her  pride, 
And  then  with  truthful  words  replied : 
"  If  thus  a  little  insect  thing 
Can  pain  thee  with  its  tiny  sting, 
How  languish,  think  you,  those  who  smart 
Beneath  my  Cupid's  cruel  dart? 
How  fatal  must  that  poison  prove 
That  rankles  on  the  shafts  of  Love !" 

Simonides  (556-467  B.C.),  who  brought  into  high  repute  the 
Doric  or  Choral  School  while  he  also  composed  in  the  Ionic 
dialect,  was  born  in  Ceos,  an  island  of  the  Cyclades.  He  was 
one  of  a  brilliant  coterie  of  poets  attracted  to  Athens  by  the 
munificence  of  Hipparchus ;  and  after  the  assassination  of 
the  latter  he  withdrew  to  Thessaly,  to  find  rich  and  powerful 
patrons  there  on  whom  to  lavish  his  eulogies ;  for  Simonides 
was  the  first  poet  that  set  a  price  upon  his  talents  and  turned 
his  panegyrics  into  gold.  He  who,  when  small  pay  was  of- 
fered, disdained  to  celebrate  a  mule  victorious  in  the  race  on 
the  plea  that  it  was  an  ass's  daughter,  when  the  price  was 
raised  found  in  the  "  child  of  thunder-footed  steeds"  no  unfit 
subject  for  his  facile  Muse. 

In  connection  with  this  rather  unpoetical  eye  to  business, 
we  are  told  that  once  Simonides,  having  extolled  in  verse  one 
of  his  Thessalian  patrons,  was  refused  more  than  half  the 
promised  price  and  referred  for  the  balance  to  the  gods  Castor 
and  Pollux,  whose  praises  filled  most  of  the  poem.  The  Thes- 
salian noble  was  still  laughing  at  his  ruse  for  evading  pay- 
ment, when  Simonides  was  summoned  from  the  room  to  speak 


SIMONIES.  1 75 

with  two  strangers.  Hastening  out,  he  found  that  they  had 
vanished ;  but  no  sooner  had  he  withdrawn  from  the  apart- 
ment than  the  roof  fell  and  killed  all  whom  he  had  left  there. 
Thus  the  twin  deities  discharged  their  indebtedness  to  the 
poet. 

The  evening  of  his  days  Simonides  passed  in  Syracuse, 
the  ornament  of  Hi'ero's  court,  the  recipient  of  royal  favors 
during  his  life,  and  at  his  death  of  the  highest  funeral  honors. 
It  was  here  that  the  poet,  who  was  somewhat  of  a  philoso- 
pher, confessed  his  inability  to  answer  the  question  of  the 
Syracusan  monarch,  "  What  is  God  ?" 

Simonides  was  remarkably  successful  in  adapting  the  elegy 
to  funeral  songs  and  epitaphs,  and  thus  embalming  Grecian 
heroism  for  the  contemplation  of  future  ages.  He  lived  in 
the  time  of  the  Persian  War,  and  commemorated  its  worthies. 
The  tomb  of  the  three  hundred  who  fell  at  Thermopylae  for 
the  liberties  of  Greece  bore  this  grand  inscription  from  his 
pen :  "  Go,  stranger,  and  tell  the  Lacedaemonians  that  we  lie 
here  in  obedience  to  their  laws."  In  his  workshop  the  epigram 
was  wrought  to  perfection.  "  The  Simonidean  tears  "  seemed 
to  well  up  from  the  very  depths  of  the  heart.  Among  all  the 
epigrammatists  known  to  literature,  none  have  excelled  him 
whom  Plato  styled  "  the  divine  Simonides ;"  who  was  "  the 
voice  of  Hellas — the  genius  of  Fame,  sculpturing  with  a  pen 
of  adamant,  in  letters  of  indelible  gold,  the  achievements  to 
which  the  whole  world  owes  its  civilization."  Fifty-six  times, 
the  last  time  at  the  age  of  eighty,  he  bore  away  from  all  com- 
petitors the  prize  of  poetry. 

Besides  dirges  and  epigrams,  hymns,  prayers,  paeans,  and 
processional  odes,  flowed  from  the  prolific  pen  of  Simonides. 
Long  a  chorus-teacher  in  the  land  of  his  birth,  he  was  pecul- 
iarly fitted  for  the  composition  of  solemn  choral  poetry. 
"  The  Lament  of  Danae,"  his  finest  surviving  work,  is  a  noble 
specimen  of  the  Greek  lyric.  It  describes  the  Argive  princess 


176  GRECIAN   LITERATUEE. 

set  adrift  with  her  child  in  an  ark  upon  the  stormy  billows  by 
her  inhuman  parent.  Tenderly  she  folds  the  sleeping  boy  in 
her  arms,  and  prays  Father  Zeus  that  like  him  the  sea  may 
sleep. 

DANAE'S  LAMENT. 

"  Closed  in  the  fine-wrought  chest, 
She  felt  the  rising  wind  the  waters  move. 
Then,  by  new  fear  possessed, 

With  action  wild 
And  cheeks  bedewed,  she  stretched  her  arms  of  love 

Toward  Perseus :  '  O  my  child, 
What  sorrow  wrings  my  breast ! 
While  thou  art  sunk  so  deep 
In  infancy's  calm  sleep ; 
Launched  in  this  joyless  ark, 
Bronze-fastened,  glimmering-dark, 
Yet,  pillowed  on  thy  tangled  hair, 
Thou  slumberest,  nor  dost  care 
For  billows  past  thee  bounding 
Nor  breezes  shrilly  sounding. 
Laid  in  thy  mantle  red,  sweet  face,  how  fair ! 
Ah!  but  if  Fear 

Had  aught  of  fear  for  thee, 

Thou  even  to  me 
Wouldst  turn  thy  tender  ear. 
But  now  I  bid  thee  rest,  my  babe ;  sleep  still ! 
Rest,  O  thou  sea !     Rest,  rest,  unbounded  ill ! 
Zeus,  Father,  some  relief,  some  change  from  thee ! 
Am  I  too  bold  ?     For  his  sake,  pardon  me !' " 


EPITAPH  ON  THE  NIECE  OF  HIPPARCHUS. 

"  Archedice,  the  daughter  of  King  Hippias, 

Who  in  his  time 
Of  all  the  potentates  of  Greece  was  prime, 

This  dust  doth  hide ; 
Daughter,  wife,  sister,  mother,  unto  kings  she  was, 

Yet  free  from  pride." — HOBBES. 

Pindar,  the  friend  and  pupil  of  Simonides,  the  greatest  mas- 
ter of  the  Doric  School,  adorned  the  golden  age  of  Grecian 
literature,  and  will  there  be  considered  as  the  representative 
of  lyric  poetry. 


LYRIC   POETRY. 


177 


MINOR    ELEGIAC    AND    IAMBIC    POETS. 


MIMNEBMUS  of  Colophon  (634-590  B.C.), 
the  first  to  adapt  the  elegiac  couplet 
to  plaintive  and  erotic  themes:  he 
bewails  the  enslavement  of  his  de- 
generate country  by  Lydia.  Old  age 
the  terror  of  the  poet ;  life  without 
"the  gold -haired  goddess"  of  love 
not  worth  living ;  a  characteristic 
saying  of  his, "  When  the  flower  of 
youth  is  past,  it  is  best  to  die  at 
once;  may  death  strike  me  at  my 
sixtieth  year." 

SOLON,  the  Athenian  lawgiver  (638-559 
B.C.),the  first  gnomic  poet :  embodied 
his  moral  maxims  (gnomes)  in  elegiac 
verse :  also  a  master  of  the  martial 
elegy,  as  his  famous  "  Salaminian 
Ode"  shows.  Plato  declared  that 
if  Solon  had  devoted  his  genius  to 
the  Muses,  Homer  might  not  have 
stood  alone  in  his  glory. 

THKOGNIS  (583^495  B.C.),  a  noble  of 
Meg'ara,  who  opposed  the  democratic 
faction,  and  was  in  consequence  ex- 
pelled from  the  state  and  deprived  of 
his  hereditary  lands  by  the  Commons. 
He  sang  his  songs  in  elegiac  verse. 
Distinguished  also  as  a  gnomic  poet. 
The  following  thoughts  are  culled 
from  among  his  sayings: — "Wealth 
is  almighty." — "  Easy  among  men  is 
the  practice  of  wickedness,  but  hard 
the  method  of  goodness." — "  No  one 
descends  to  Hades  with  his  riches, 
nor  can  he  by  paying  ransom  escape 
death." — "Prefer  to  live  piously  on 
small  means  to  being  rich  on  what 
is  gotten  unjustly." 

PHOCYL'IDES  of  Miletus  (550-490  B.C.), 
an  Ionian  gnomic  poet  whose  didartic 
couplets,  generally  marked  by  sound 


sense,  sometimes  breathing  a  worldly 
spirit,  began  with  the  introductory 
phrase, "And  this  too  is  Phocylides'." 
The  following  are  maxims  of  his : — 
"First  get  your  living,  and  then  think 
of  getting  virtue." — "  A  small  city  set 
upon  a  rock  and  well-governed  is 
better  than  all  foolish  Nineveh." 

XENOPH'ANES  of  Colophon  (about  510 
B.C.),  founder  of  the  Eleatic  sect  of 
philosophers:  also  an  elegiac  poet: 
condemns  the  effeminacy  of  his  coun- 
trymen, and  derides  a  prevailing  pref- 
erence for  physical  over  intellectual 
culture. 

THE   SATIRISTS. 

SlMONIDES    THE    ELDER,    of    AmOrgUS 

(660  B.C.)."  the  lambographer :"  style 
flowing  and  polished:  masterpiece, 
a  satire  on  women — "Even  though 
they  seem  to  be  good,  when  one  has 
got  one  she  becomes  a  plague." 
HIP'PONAX  of  Ephesus  (540  B.C.),  the 
father  of  parody,  and  inventor  of  the 
choliambic  measure,  or  limping  iam- 
bic, in  which  the  last  foot  was  a  spon- 
dee. He  attacked  the  luxury  and 
vice  of  his  day,  sparing  neither  friend 
nor  relative;  it  is  told  that  by  his 
crushing  satire  a  sculptor  who  had 
caricatured  his  ugly  person  was 
driven  to  suicide.  It  was  Hipponax 
who  said :  "  Woman  gives  two  days 
of  happiness  to  man,  the  day  of  her 
bridal  and  the  day  of  her  funeral." 
The  stranger  who  passed  his  tomb 
was  warned : 
"Wake  not  the  sleeping  wasp,  for 

though  he's  dead, 

Still  straight  and  sure  his  crooked 
lines  are  sped." 


H 


GRECIAN   LITEKATUKE. 


MINOR    POETS    OF   THE    CHORAL   SCHOOL. 


1-631  B.C.),  Sparta's  jovial 
lyric  poet,  an  emancipated  Lydian 
slave. 

STESICH'ORUS  of  Sicily  (632-560  B.C.), 
inventor  of  the  choric  system;  named 
from  his  occupation  Stesi-chorus,  lead- 
er of  the  chorus.  His  greatness 
foreshadowed  by  a  nightingale  that 
alighted  on  his  infant  lips  and  burst 
into  song :  hymns,  fables,  pastorals : 
the  earliest  Greek  novelist;  his  love 
tales  and  romances  narrated  in  verse. 

TEHPAXDER  the  Lesbian  (about  650 
B.C.),  the  founder  of  Greek  musical 
science,  and  inventor  of  the  hepta- 
chord, or  seven-stringed  lyre. 


IB'YCUS,  of  Rhegium  iu  southern  Italy 
(540  B.C.),  lived  in  Samos  as  the 
friend  of  Polycrates.  His  odes  prin- 
cipally erotic:  from  the  warmth  of 
his  passion,  Ibycus  was  styled  "  the 
love-maddened." 

BACCHYL'IDES  (470  B.C.),  the  nephew 
of  Simonides  of  Ceos:  hymns,  epi- 
grams, etc.,  in  Doric :  style  highly 
polished  :  a  specimen  epigram  is, 

"  The  touchstone  tries  the  purity  of 

gold, 

And  by  all-conquering  truth  man's 
worth  and  wit  are  told." 

TIMOC'REON  OF  RHODES  (471  B.C.), 
lyric  poet  and  satirist. 


CHAPTER  IV. 
RISE  OF  GREEK  PROSE. 

Earliest  Prose  Writing's. — For  several  centuries,  the  liter- 
ature.of  Greece  was  confined  to  poetry.  In  Hellas,  as. else- 
where, verse  for  a  time  at  first  so  charmingly  and  completely 
filled  the  popular  ear  that  there  was  no  desire,  no  room,  for 
prose.  But,  as  new  necessities  arose,  poetry  could  not  suf- 
fice for  Greece ;  not  with  epic  and  lyric  voice  alone  were  her 
men  of  genius  to  gain  a  hearing  from  the  world.  National 
achievements  must  be  recorded ;  the  people  must  be  ap- 
pealed to  in  the  agora;  the  curtain  of  metaphysics  must  be 
raised ;  and  so  History,  Oratory,  and  Philosophy  appeared 
upon  the  stage.  To  these  practical  new-comers,  the  plain 
garb  of  prose  was  found  more  appropriate  than  the  broidery 
of  verse. 


EAKLY   PROSE    WRITINGS  179 

Moreover,  the  introduction  of  facilities  for  writing  favored 
the  development  of  prose  literature;  for,  unlike  poetry,  it 
needed  a  written  form  to  give  it  permanence.  When  the  art 
of  writing  became  familiar,  and  men  with  its  help  could  rapidly 
inscribe  their  thoughts  for  others  still  more  rapidly  to  read, 
prose,  as  a  distinct  branch  of  composition,  was  born ;  and  its 
birth  marked  an  era  in  the  intellectual  growth  of  the  Greeks. 

Ever  since  the  introduction  of  letters,  prose  had  doubtless 
been  used  more  or  less  in  despatches,  records,  laws,  and  official 
documents.  Pherecy'des  of  Sy'ros  and  Cadmus  of  Miletus 
(about  550  B.C.)  were  the  first  to  secure  its  recognition  as  a 
department  of  polite  literature,  the  one  embodying  in  it  his 
philosophical  doctrines,  the  other  the  fabulous  history  of  his 
native  land — with  homely  strength,  if  not  with  artistic  finish. 

Era  of  the  Sages. — In  the  period  during  which  prose  gained 
its  first  foothold  flourished  the  Seven  Sages  of  Greece  (665- 
540  B.C.).  Revolutions  were  then  the  order  of  the  day,  the 
people  were  beginning  actively  to  assert  their  rights,  and  po- 
litical questions  of  vital  interest  absorbed  the  attention  of 
thinkers.  The  flights  of  fancy  became  fewer,  as  these  grave 
problems  presented  themselves.  Philosophers  strove  to  solve 
them  at  home ;  patriots  went  abroad  to  study  foreign  institu- 
tions ;  and  all  awoke  to  the  discovery  that  "  knowledge  is 
power." 

The  Seven  Sages  were  gnomic  poets,  as  well  as  philoso- 
phers and  statesmen.  Their  moral  and  political  maxims 
they  usually  threw  into  verse;  but  those  inscribed  on  plates 
of  metal  and  deposited  in  the  temple  of  Apollo  at  Delphi, 
were  in  prose.  In  their  proverbs,  whether  prose  or  poetry, 
we  discern  the  dawn  of  moral  philosophy. 

SOLON. — The  greatest  of  the  Seven  Sages  were  Solon  and 
Thales.  Solon  of  Athens  was  born  about  638  B.C.  After 
extensive  travels  and  studies,  he  drew  up  for  the  Athenians 
(594  B.C.)  the  famous  code  called  by  his  name,  which  re- 


180 


GRECIAN   LITERATURE. 


SOLON'S  TABLETS. 


formed  many  abuses  and  secured  to  the  people  a  liberal  gov- 
ernment.    His  laws  were  written  in  prose  on  the  polished 

faces  of  triangular  wooden 
prisms.  These  were  set 
in  frames,  and  turned  on 
pivots  by  persons  who 
wished  to  consult  them. 
The  state  copy  was  carved 
on  four -sided  blocks  of 
brass,  and  kept  in  the  Acropolis. 

After  Solon's  code  was  adopted,  that  it  might  be  the  better 
enforced,  its  author  is  said  to  have  absented  himself  from 
Athens  for  ten  years,  visiting  among  other  courts  that  of 
Croesus,  King  of  Lydia.  To  this  visit,  Crcesus  owed  his  life; 
for  afterward,  when  chained  to  the  stake  by  Cyrus  the  Persian, 
the  truth  of  one  of  Solon's  remarks, — that  no  man  can  be  ac- 
counted happy  while  he  still  lives, — flashed  upon  his  mind, 
and  he  thrice  called  upon  the  name  of  the  Athenian  sage. 
Cyrus  demanded  an  explanation  of  his  words,  and,  struck 
with  the  truth  of  Solon's  saying,  revoked  the  order  of  exe- 
cution and  made  Crcesus  his  friend. 

THALES,  of  Miletus  in  Ionia  (640-550  B.C.),  was  the  found- 
er of  Greek  philosophy.  Water,  according  to  his  theory,  was 
the  source  of  all  things ;  without  this  element,  he  truly  said, 
his  own  body  would  fall  into  dust.  This  doctrine  he  is  sup- 
posed to  have  derived  from  the  Egyptians,  who  worshipped 
the  Nile  as  a  god,  being  dependent  on  its  annual  inunda- 
tions for  their  crops. 

In  mathematical  science  and  astronomy,  Thales  was  an 
adept.  His  knowledge  of  the  latter  enabled  him  to  predict  a 
solar  eclipse,  which  took  place  610  B.C.,  and  to  divide  the 
year  into  three  hundred  and  sixty-five  days.  If  he  was  an 
author,  not  a  line  of  what  he  wrote  has  survived. 

Fable.  —  An  eutgrowth  of  these  practical  times  was  the 


JESOP'S   FABLES.  181 

Fable,  or  Allegory,  in  which  the  lower  animals  were  intro- 
duced as  speakers,  with  the  object  of  satirizing  the  follies  of 
mankind,  or  of  conveying  some  useful  moral  more  pointedly 
than  by  means  of  dry  argument. 

Destitute  of  the  outward  form  of  poetry,  while  in  a  measure 
retaining  its  imagery,  fable  may  be  regarded  as  a  stepping- 
stone  from  the  early  lyrics  to  the  stately  prose  of  a  later 
period.  It  at  once  became  popular,  as  did  also  a  kindred 
class  of  humorous  tales,  the  characters  of  which  were  inani- 
mate objects  endowed  with  the  power  of  speech.  An  earthen 
pot,  for  example,  is  represented  as  clamoring  loudly  against 
the  woman  who  broke  it;  and  she,  as  bidding  it  "cease  its 
plaints  and  show  its  wisdom  by  buying  a  copper  ring  to 
bind  itself  together." 

^Esop. — The  great  fabulist  of  Greece,  and  indeed  of  all 
time,  was  ^sop.  Born  a  Phrygian  slave  about  620  B.C.,  he 
passed  from  one  master  to  another  till  at  last  his  wit  gained 
him  freedom.  Thus  left  to  choose  his  own  course,  he  became 
a  student  in  foreign  lands.  Athens  was  his  home  for  a  num- 
ber of  years;  and  there,  in  his  well-known  fable  of  "the  Frogs 
asking  Jupiter  for  a  King,"  he  read  a  lesson  both  to  Pisistra- 
tus  the  Tyrant  and  to  the  people  who  imagined  themselves 
oppressed  under  his  government. 

By  special  invitation,  JEsop  spent  some  time  at  the  court 
of  Croesus.  Here  he  made  the  acquaintance  of  Solon,  who 
had  incurred  that  monarch's  displeasure  by  speaking  lightly 
of  his  vaunted  wealth ;  and  he  is  said  to  have  admonished 
the  Athenian  sage  that  a  wise  man  should  resolve  either  not 
to  converse  with  kings  at  all,  or  to  converse  with  them  agree- 
ably."— "  Nay,"  replied  Solon,  "  he  should  either  not  con- 
verse with  them  at  all,  or  converse  with  them  usefully." 

Crcesus  commissioned  JEsop  to  go  to  Delphi  for  the  pur- 
pose of  sacrificing  to  Apollo  and  distributing  a  sum  of  money 
among  the  citizens.  But  ^Esop  quarrelled  with  the  Del- 


182  GRECIAN   LITERATURE. 

phians,  and  taking  it  upon  himself  to  withhold  from  them  the 
Lydian  gold,  was  seized  by  the  enraged  people  and  hurled 
from  a  precipice.  Legend  says  that  the  murderers  brought 
upon  themselves  the  vengeance  of  heaven  in  the  form  of 
mysterious  plagues. 

While  these  particulars  of  .^Esop's  life  rest  on  rather  du- 
bious authority,  it  is  certain  that  as  a  fable-writer  he  was  de- 
servedly appreciated  in  ancient  Greece.  At  Athens,  ^sop's 
Fables  became  indispensable  to  a  polite  education.  Their 
author  does  not  appear  to  have  committed  them  to  writing ; 
they  passed  from  mouth  to  mouth  for  generations,  undergoing 
more  or  less  change.  Hence  we  have  left  only  the  substance 
of  those  pointed  stories  over  which  the  Athenians  went  into 
transports,  and  which  Socrates  amused  himself  by  turning  into 
verse  during  his  imprisonment.  The  young  folks  of  every 
age,  with  whom  ^Esop  has  always  been  a  favorite,  would 
applaud  the  Athenians  for  placing  the  statue  of  the  world's 
great  fabulist  before  those  of  their  Seven  Sages. 

When  the  people  of  Samos  were  on  the  point  of  executing 
a  public  officer  who  had  robbed  the  treasury,  they  were  in- 
duced to  spare  the  offender  by  ^Esop's  spicy  fable  of 

THE  FOX  AND  THE  HEDGEHOG. 

A  Fox,  while  crossing  a  river,  was  driven  by  the  stream  into  a 
narrow  gorge,  and  lay  there  for  a  long  time  Tillable  to  get  out,  cov- 
ered with  myriads  of  horse-flies  that  had  fastened  upon  him.  A 
Hedgehog,  who  was  wandering  in  that  direction,  saw  him,  and  tak- 
ing compassion  on  him,  asked  if  he  should  drive  away  the  flies  that 
were  so  tormenting  him.  But  the  Fox  begged  him  to  do  nothing  of 
the  sort. 

"  Why  not  ?"  asked  the  Hedgehog. 

"Because,"  replied  the  Fox,  "  these  flies  that  are  upon  me  now  are 
already  full,  and  draw  bnt  little  blood ;  but  should  you  remove  them, 
a  swarm  of  fresh  and  hungry  ones  will  come,  who  will  not  leave  a 
drop  of  blood  in  my  body." — JAMES. 

Progress  of  Greek  Prose.  —  An  impetus  was  given  to  the 
development  of  Greek  prose  by  the  praiseworthy  efforts  of 


EARLY    GREEK    PROSE. 


183 


Pisistratus  (537-527  B.C.),  who  gathered  the  first  library  in 
Greece,  collected  and  edited  the  poems  of  Homer,  and  im- 
itated his  kinsman  Solon  in  laboring  to  elevate  the  literary 
taste  of  the  people.  During  his  administration  and  that  of 
his  sons  Hippias  and  Hipparchus,  also  patrons  of  letters, 
prose  literature  took  deep  root  throughout  the  Ionian  col- 
onies, where  history  and  philosophy  had  many  representa- 
tives. 

The  style  of  these  early  writers  was  for  the  most  part  frag- 
mentary, dry,  and  inelegant.  It  soon  improved,  however, 
grew  into  favor,  and  in  the  hands  of  the  profound  thinkers, 
fluent  historians,  and  persuasive  orators  of  Greece,  was 
wrought  into  models  which  are  still  the  admiration  of  the 
world. 


EARLY    PROSE   WRITERS. 


PHILOSOPHERS. 

AXAXIMANDEB  (bom  610  B.C.),  first 
map-drawer,  and  introducer  of  the 
sundial.  He  represented  the  earth 
as  cylindrical,  and  as  the  centre  about 
which  the  stars  and  planets  revolved; 
its  inhabitants  as  the  result  of  fer- 
mentation caused  by  the  action  of 
the  sun's  rays  on  its  marshes.  His 
"Treatise  on  Nature"  (547  B.C.),  the 
first  work  on  biology  and  the  ear- 
liest philosophical  essay  written  in 
Greek. 

ANAXIM'EOTS  (born  556  B.C.)  made  the 
earth  a  leaf-shaped  mass  floating  in 
the  air;  the  sun  and  moon  flat  cir- 
cular bodies;  air  the  elementary 
principle  from  which  all  things  were 
made  and  to  which  they  returned : 
the  soul,  air. 

HERACLI'TUS  of  Ephesus  (505  B.C.) 
rejected  the  nature -worship  of  his 


countrymen,  and  believed  in  an  all- 
wise,  omnipresent  Power.  He  is  re- 
corded to  have  wept  continually  over 
the  sins  of  men;  hence  called  the 
weeping  philosopher.  Fire  the  first 
principle.  "  No  man,"  said  he  in  al- 
lusion to  the  never-ceasing  changes 
in  the  world,  "can  wade  twice  in  the 
same  stream." 

HISTORIANS. 

CADMUS  of  Miletus  (540  B.C.):  "Pri- 
meval History  of  Miletus  and  Io- 
nia." 

ACCSILA'US  the  Argive  (525  B.C.) : 
"Genealogies,"  a  prose  translation 
of  Hesiod's  "Theogony,"  altered  in 
parts  to  suit  the  theories  of  the  au- 
thor. 

HECAT^EUS  the  Milesian  (520-479 
B.C.),  "the  far  -  travelled  man:" 
"Genealogies,"  a  history  of  the 


184 


GRECIAN   LITEEATURE. 


mythical  heroes  of  Greece ;  and  a 
"  Description  of  the  Earth,"  contain- 
ing a  summary  of  his  own  travels 
and  explorations. 

CHARON  of  Lampsacus  (500-450  B.C.), 
the  first  historian  to  record  authentic 
events:  "History  of  the  Persian 


War,"      "Annals     of    Lampsacus," 
"  Chronicles  of  the  Spartan  Kings." 

HELLANI'CUS    of  Mytilene,    a   noted 
compiler. 

.XANTHUS  the  Lydian  :  "  The  Lydiaca," 
a  history  of  Lydia  in  four  volumes. 


SEVEN    SAGES    AND    THEIR    MOTTOES. 


SOLON  of  Athens :  "  Know  thyself." 
CHI'LO  of  Sparta :  "  Consider  the  end." 

THALES  of  Miletus :  "  Who  hateth  sure- 
tyship is  sure." 

BIAS  of  Priene :  "  Most  men  are  bad." 


CLEOBU'LUS  of  Lindus  :   "Avoid  ex- 
tremes." 

PIT'TACUS  of  Mytilene :   "  Seize  time . 
by  the  forelock." 

PERIANDER  of  Corinth :  "  Nothing  is 
impossible  to  industry." 


CHAPTER  V. 
GOLDEN  AGE  OF  GRECIAN  LITERATURE. 

(480-330  B.C.) 

The  Attic  Period. — In  their  wars  with  the  Persians  (492-479 
B.C.),  the  Hellenic  people  fully  demonstrated  their  military 
superiority,  vindicating  their  manhood  on  the  fields  of  Mara- 
thon and  Platasa,  and  in  the  sea-fight  with  Xerxes  at  Salamis. 
Under  the  stimulus  -of  these  national  triumphs,  conducing  to 
national  unity,  as  well  as  of  the  free  institutions  now  generally 
established,  the  Greek  mind  was  awakened  to  renewed  action ; 
literature  made  unprecedented  growth,  and  in  the  fifth  century 
B.C.  matured  its  choicest  products. 

Athens,  the  laurel-crowned  saviour  of  Greece,  hitherto  but 
an  indifferent  contributor  to  art  and  poetry,  now  became  the 
centre  of  letters,  aspiring  through  her  statesman  Pericles  (469- 
429  B.C.)  to  both  literary  and  political  supremacy.  Her  At- 


THE   ATTIC   PEKIOD.  185 

tic  dialect,  nervous  but  not  rough,  harmonious  without  a  too 
effeminate  softness — the  perfection  of  the  Greek  language — 
materially  helped  to  make  her  the  "  mother  of  eloquence,"  the 
home  of  poets  and  philosophers,  the  school  of  the  nations ; 
while  Pericles  extended  her  imperial  dominion  over  many 
cities  and  islands,  and  filled  her  coffers  with  their  tribute.  Her 
sculptor  Phidias  devoted  his  genius  to  the  erection  and  dec- 
oration of  public  edifices;  his  grand  creations  in  marble 
adorned  her  fanes ;  and  the  Parthenon,  whose  classic  beauty 
has  passed  into  a  proverb,  owed  to  him  its  graceful  embellish- 
ments as  well  as  its  renowned  statue  of  Minerva.  Another 
colossal  image  of  the  goddess  surmounted  the  Athenian 
Acropolis,  which  was  crowned  with  noble  temples ;  and  vota- 
ries of  the  sister  art  added  to  the  attractions  of  the  city  with 
their  brush  and  colors. 

It  was  at  this  noonday  of  Attic  glory  that  Grecian  literature 
reached  its  meridian.  Then  lyric  verse  climbed  to  heights 
before  unattained;  and  dramatic  poetry,  tragic  and  comic, 
held  its  listeners  spell-bound.  History  found  distinguished 
representatives  in  Herodotus  the  Ionian,  and  later  in  Thucyd- 
ides  and  Xenophon,  the  Athenians.  Philosophy,  in  no  other 
age  or  clime,  has  had  worthier  teachers  than  Socrates,  Plato, 
and  Aristotle ;  while  the  art  of  persuasion  seemed  to  be  im- 
personated in  Pericles,  Isoc'rates,  .^Eschines  (es'ke-neez\  De- 
mosthenes— all  true  sons  of  Attica. 

LYRIC   POETRY. 

Pindar. — Lyric  poetry  culminated  in  the  sublime  odes  of 
Pindar,  who  ushered  in  the  golden  age.  Pindar  was  born  of 
noble  parents  about  520  B.C.,  near  Thebes,  a  city  of  Bceotia. 
The  celestials  are  fabled  to  have  danced  at  his  birth,  and  the 
dropping  of  honey  on  his  infant  lips  by  a  swarm  of  bees  was 
interpreted  as  an  omen  of  a  brilliant  literary  career. 

An  early  display  of  poetical  talent  led  his  father  to  yield  to 
H  2 


186  GRECIAN   LITER ATUKE. 

the  boy's  desire  and  send  him  to  Athens  for  instruction ; 
thence  he  returned  to  Thebes,  to  study  under  the  direction  of 
the  Boeotian  poetesses,  Myrtis  and  Corinna,  who  gave  the  fin- 
ishing touches  to  his  education.  At  the  age  of  twenty,  he 
composed  an  ode  which  established  his  reputation  throughout 
Greece,  and  brought  him  into  great  request  with  princes  and 
heroes  who  craved  immortality  for  victories  at  the  national 
games.  Corinna  was  the  rival  of  his  youth ;  though  she  re- 
proached Myrtis  for  entering  the  lists  against  Pindar,  she  was 
herself  tempted  to  contend  with  her  former  pupil,  and  five 
times  bore  away  from  him  the  fillet  of  victory. 

Pindar  made  choral  poetry  his  profession,  and  was  hand- 
somely paid  out  of  the  treasuries  of  the  Greek  princes  and  free 
cities  for  laudatory  odes  written  to  their  order.  But  he  never 
descended  to  flattery  or  falsehood ;  on  the  contrary,  he  leav- 
ened his  panegyrics  with  salutary  advice,  and  fearlessly  de- 
nounced pride,  cupidity,  and  tyranny,  even  in  monarchs.  To 
the  king  of  Gyrene,  for  example,  whose  tyranny  afterward  cost 
him  his  throne,  he  said :  "  It  is  easy  for  a  fool  to  shake  the 
stability  of  a  city,  but  it  is  hard  to  place  it  again  on  its  foun- 
dations." 

Pindar's  home  was  at  Thebes,  near  Dirce's  fountain;*  but 
he  travelled  much  in  Greece.  For  a  time  he  was  the  honored 
guest  of  the  Athenians ;  and  no  wonder,  for  when  his  native 
city  sided  with  Persia  in  the  deadly  struggle  with  that  empire, 
the  poet  condemned  so  pusillanimous  a  course  and  upheld 
Athens  in  her  resistance,  styling  her  "  the  Pillar  of  Greece." 
It  is  told  that  he  received  from  the  Athenians  a  gift  of  10,000 
drachmas  ($1,800),  and  that  when  the  Thebans  mulcted  him 
for  the  bold  expression  of  his  views,  the  former  generously 
paid  the  fine.  At  Delphi,  which  Pindar  often  visited,  the  peo- 
ple contributed  their  finest  fruits  for  his  entertainment  by 


*  From  which  he  has  been  called  "  the  Dircean  Swan." 


LYRIC   POETRY. — PINDAR.  187 

order  of  the  priestess ;  and  an  iron  chair  was  set  apart  for 
his  use  in  the  temple,  where  he  was  wont  to  sit  and  sing  the 
praises  of  Apollo,  god  of  poetry.  He  lived  four  years  with 
Hiero,  and  doubtless  sojourned  with  others  of  his  patrons. 
But  Pindar  was  no  boon  companion  of  kings  like  Simonides, 
and  while  he  accepted  their  costly  presents  he  never  forfeited 
the  respect  of  his  countrymen. 

Pindar  died  at  the  age  of  eighty,  in  the  theatre,  it  is  related, 
amid  the  acclamations  of  the  audience.  He  had  been  taking 
part  as  usual,  and  overcome  with  weariness,  rested  his  head 
on  the  knees  of  a  favorite  pupil,  and  fell  into  a  slumber  from 
which  his  friends  vainly  strove  to  wake  him.  A  tradition, 
more  in  accordance  with  the  Greek  love  of  the  marvellous,  in- 
forms us  that  a  few  days  before  he  died  Proserpine  (goddess 
of  the  lower  world)  appeared  to  him,  and  having  reproached 
him  for  slighting  her  in  his  odes,  announced  that  he  should 
soon  compose  a  song  in  her  honor  within  the  confines  of  her 
own  kingdom.  Shortly  after,  Pindar's  death  occurred ;  and 
on  the  following  day,  Thebes  resounded  with  a  hymn  to  Pros- 
erpine sung  by  an  old  woman,  who  declared  the  poet's  ghost 
had  dictated  it  to  her  in  a  dream. 

Statues  were  erected  to  Pindar  at  Athens  and  in  the  hippo- 
drome of  Thebes  ;  a  hundred  years  after,  when  Alexander  the 
Great  destroyed  the  latter  city  in  consequence  of  its  rebellion, 
he  bade  his  soldiers  spare  the  house  hallowed  by  having  once 
been  the  residence  of  the  Theban  bard.  Statues  and  dwelling 
have  since  passed  away,  and  the  only  surviving  monument  of 
Pindar  is  that  reared  by  himself  in  the  deathless  odes  he  has 
left  us. 

THE  PINDARIC  ODE. — Pindar's  fertile  pen  enriched  every 
department  of  lyric  poetry ;  but  all  his  compositions  are  lost 
except  a  few  fragments  of  paeans  and  dirges,  with  forty-five 
Triumphal  Odes  (which  we  have  entire)  written  to  commem- 
orate victories  at  the  Great  Games  of  Greece. 


188  GRECIAN   LITERATURE. 

These  games  were  celebrated  at  Olympia,  Delphi,  Neme'a, 
and  on  the  Corinthian  Isthmus  :  they  consisted  of  athletic 
sports,  races,  literary  and  musical  contests.  All  Greece  was 
represented  at  them.  Peasant  and  prince,  trader  and  priest, 
poet  and  historian,  painter  and  sculptor,  hurried  to  the  exciting 
scene  as  contestants  or  spectators ;  and  the  simple  crown  of 
olive  or  laurel,  pine  or  parsley,  that  was  placed  on  the  con- 
queror's brow,  was  valued  beyond  price.  All  that  was  needed 
to  complete  the  triumph  was  an  ode  in  its  honor  from  the 
Great  Lyrist.  This,  when  obtained,  was  sung  at  an  honorary 
banquet  or  solemn  procession,  amid  great  rejoicings ;  and  was 
annually  rehearsed  in  the  victor's  native  town  to  the  accom- 
paniment of  soul-stirring  music — for  his  family,  town,  and  state, 
participated  in  the  victor's  glory. 

PINDAR'S  STYLE  is  original,  chaste,  full  of  splendor  and 
majestic  energy.  The  Theban  eagle,  as  he  has  often  been 
called,  soaring  to  the  sun,  seems  to  disdain  the  commonplace 
in  his  solitary  flight.  His  style,  however,  is  not  faultless.  The 
over-boldness  of  his  metaphors  confuses;  his  massing  of  mag- 
nificent images  and  high-sounding  epithets  wearies  ;  his  Doric 
condensation  obscures  his  meaning;  his  metre  is  too  compli- 
cated for  the  uneducated  ear,  and  his  transitions  are  so  abrupt 
that  the  reader  has  difficulty  in  finding  the  connection.  His 
subjects  were  hard  to  treat ;  but  Pindar  found  material  and 
lent  variety  to  his  odes  by  skilfully  interweaving  legendary 
lore,  history,  and  fragments  of  mythology.  This  was  by  Co- 
rinna's  advice ;  but  her  young  pupil  carried  it  to  such  excess 
in  his  first  attempt  that  his  fair  teacher  warned  him,  "  One 
should  sow  with  the  hand,  not  with  the  whole  sack." 

Pindar's  tone  is  everywhere  moral.  He  merits  indeed  the 
title  of  "Sacerdotal  Poet;"  for  he  upheld  the  religion  of 
Greece  in  its  purity,  rejecting  all  sensual  notions  of  "the 
blessed  ones,"  and  asserting  his  faith  in  their  holiness  and 
justice.  He  taught  the  immortality  of  the  soul ;  "things  of 


PINDAR'S  POETRY.  189 

a  day  "  are  men,  but  after  death  there  is  in  store  "  a  gladsome 
life."  His  belief  in  an  existence  beyond  the  grave  is  indicated 
in  the  following  lines  from  one  of  his  dirges.  And  here  be  it 
observed  that  no  translation  can  do  justice  to  Pindar ;  the 
Doric  diamonds  cease  to  flash  when  removed  from  their  Doric 

setting. 

"  Shines  for  them  the  sun's  warm  glow, 
When  'tis  darkness  here  below ; 
And  the  ground  before  their  towers, 
Meadow-laud  with  purple  flowers, 
Teeins  with  incense-bearing  treen, 
Teems  with  fruit  of  golden  sheen. 
Some  iu  steed  and  wrestling  feat, 
Some  in  dice  take  pleasure  sweet, 
Some  in  harping :  at  their  side 
Blooms  the  spring  in  all  her  pride. 
Fragrance  all  about  is  blown 

O'er  that  country  of  desire, 
Ever  as  rich  gifts  are  thrown 

Freely  on  the  far-seen  fire, 
Blazing  from  the  altar-stone. 

But  the  souls  of  the  profane 
Far  from  heaven  removed  below, 

Flit  on  earth  in  murderous  pain, 
'Neath  the  unyielding  yoke  of  woe  ; 
While  pious  spirits  tenanting  the  sky 
Chant  praises  to  the  mighty  one  on  high." 

CONINGTON. 

The  more  characteristic  extract  given  below  consists  of 
portions  of  the  Seventh  Olympic  Ode,  in  which  the  poet  sings 
the  praises  of  Diag'oras  of  Rhodes  for  having  gained  a  victory 
with  the  cestus  (made  of  leather  thongs  and  worn  round  the 
hands  in  boxing).  This  ode  was  so  much  admired  by  the 
Rhodians  that  they  wrote  it  in  golden  letters  on  the  wall  of 
Minerva's  temple  at  Lindus.  It  relates  the  birth  of  their 
patron  goddess  and  the  story  of  their  own  origin,  closing  with 
an  invocation  to  Jupiter,  who  was  worshipped  on  Ataby'ris,  a 
mountain  of  the  island.  Here  stood  a  temple,  dedicated  to 
him,  containing  the  fabulous  brazen  bulls  that  bellowed  when 
any  calamity  threatened. 


190  GRECIAN  LITERATURE. 


ODE  TO  DIAGOKAS. 

"  As  when  a  sire  the  golden  bowl, 

All  foaming  with  the  dew  of  wine, 
Takes  with  a  liberal  hand  and  soul, 

Chief  gem  where  all  his  treasures  shine — 
Then  tends  the  beverage  (hallowed  first 

By  prayers  to  all  the  powers  above) 
To  slake  the  youthful  bridegroom's  thirst, 

In  honor  of  connubial  love ; 
The  social  pledge  he  bears  on  high, 

And,  homeward  as  his  course  he  bends, 
Blesses  the  fond  connubial  tie, 

Admired  by  all  hia  circling  friends ; 

E'en  thus  I  bring  the  nectared  strain, 
The  Muses'  gift,  to  those  who  gain 
The  Pythian  and  Olympic  crown; 

Thrice  blest,  to  whom  'tis  given  to  share 
The  arduous  fruit  of  mental  care, 
Cheered  by  the  voice  of  high  renown ! 
Full  many  a  victor  in  the  fray 
My  life-inspiring  strains  survey — 
Which  bid  the  sweet-toned  lyre  its  music  raise, 
And  wake  the  sounding  flutes  through  all  their  notes 
of  praise. 

And  now,  Diagoras,  to  thee 

They  breathe  united  melody. 

When  Rhodes,  the  warlike  isle,  is  sung, 

Apollo's  bride  from  Venus  sprung; 

He  too,  the  hero  brave  and  bold, 

With  hardy  frame  of  giant  mould, 

Who,  by  Alphe'us'  sacred  tide, 

And  where  Castalia's  waters  glide, 

First  in  the  cestus'  manly  fray, 

Bore  the  triumphant  prize  away. 

Let  Damage'tus  next,  his  sire, 

To  justice  dear,  the  strain  inspire. 
Fixed  on  that  isle  which  three  fair  cities  grace, 
Where  Embolus  protects  wide  Asia's  coast, 
They  dwell  united  with  the  Argive  host. 

In  that  blest  isle  secure  at  last, 

'Twas  thine,  Tlepolemus,  to  meet 
For  each  afflictive  trial  past 

A  recompense  and  respite  sweet. 


EXTRACT   FROM  PINDAR.  191 

Chief  of  Tirynthian  hosts,  to  thee, 
As  to  a  prcseut  deity, 

The  fumes  of  slaughtered  sheep  arise 

In  all  the  pomp  of  sacrifice : 
Awarded  by  thy  just  decree, 

The  victor  gains  his  verdant  prize— 
That  crown  whose  double  honors  glow, 
Diagoras,  around  thy  brow ; 
On  which  four  times  the  Isthmian  pine, 
And  twice  the  Nemeau  olive  shine  : 
While  Athens  on  her  rocky  throne 
Made  her  illustrious  wreath  his  own. 

Trophies  of  many  a  well-fought  field 

He  won  in  glory's  sacred  cause, 
The  Theban  tripod,  brazen  shield 

At  Argos,  and  Arcadia's  vase. 
Her  palms  Bceotia's  genuine  contests  yield  j 
Six  times  .^Egina's  prize  he  gained, 
As  oft  Pellene's  robe  obtained, 
And  graved  in  characters  of  fame, 
Thy  column,  Megara,  records  his  name. 

Great  sire  of  all,  immortal  Jove ! 
On  Atabyris'  mount  enshrined, 
Oh !  still  may  thy  propitious  mind 
The  encomiastic  hymn  approve, 
Which  celebrates  in  lawful  strain 
The  victor  on  Olympia's  plain, 
Whose  valorous  arm  the  cestus  knows  to  wield. 

Protected  by  thy  constant  care, 
In  citizens'  and  strangers'  eyes 
Still  more  exalted  shall  he  rise 

Whose  virtuous  deeds  thy  favor  share : 
Since  he,  to  violence  and  fraud  unknown, 
Treads  the  straight  paths  of  equity  alone ; 
His  fathers'  counsels  mindful  to  pursue, 
And  keep  their  bright  example  still  in  view. 
Then  let  not  inactivity  disgrace 
The  well-earned  fame  of  thine  illustrious  race, 
Who  sprang  from  great  Calli'anax,  and  crown 
The  Erat'idae  with  splendor  all  their  own. 
With  joy  and  festal  hymns  the  streets  resound — 

But  soon,  as  shifts  the  ever-varying  gale, 

The  storms  of  adverse  fortune  may  assail — 
Then,  Khodiaus,  be  your  mirth  with  sober  temper- 
ance crowned." — WHEELWRIGHT. 


192  GRECIAN   LITERATURE. 

Antimachus. — An  elegiac  poet  of  the  golden  age  was  An- 
tim'achus  of  Col'ophon,  whose  "Ly'de,"  an  elegy  on  his  lost 
love,  enjoyed  considerable  celebrity.  When,  however,  Antim- 
achus undertook  to  read  his  long  "  Theba'is  "  to  an  audience, 
their  patience  became  exhausted  and  one  after  another  de- 
parted, until  finally  he  had  but  a  single  listener  left, — the 
young  Plato. 

DRAMATIC   POETRY. 

Else  of  the  Attic  Drama. — The  Greek  drama,  like  the  Hin- 
doo, had  a  religious  origin.  In  the  festivals  of  Bacchus,  the 
wine-god,  which  consisted  of  licentious  dances  and  songs  round 
his  altar  by  persons  disguised  in  goat-skins  as  fauns  and  satyrs 
(beings  half-man  and  half-goat),  we  must  look  for  its  earliest 
phase.  From  the  dress  of  those  who  composed  the  chorus, 
or  because  a  goat  was  sacrificed,  or  a  goat-skin  of  wine  award- 
ed to  the  poet  who  wrote  the  best  ode  for  the  occasion,  such 
ode  was  called  a  tragedy  (goat-song) ;  and  the  name  was  after- 
ward extended  to  the  entire  department  of  dramatic  poetry  to 
which  these  rude  hymns  gave  rise. 

Comedy,  on  the  contrary,  was  elaborated  from  the  village- 
songs  rife  during  the  gala-days  of  the  vintage,  when  companies 
of  noisy  revellers,*  their  cheeks  stained  with  wine-lees,  went 
about  from  town  to  town,  plunging  into  all  kinds  of  excesses, 
and  garnishing  their  songs  with  jokes  at  the  expense  of  the 
spectators. 

The  Father  of  Greek  tragedy  was  THESPIS,  the  Athenian, 
who  refined  the  coarse  Bacchanalian  orgies,  and  introduced  a 
single  actor  (generally  sustaining  the  part  himself),  to  alter- 
nate with  the  chorus  or  enter  into  a,  dialogue  with  its  leaders 
(536  B.C.).  Between  the  hymns,  the  poet,  having  smeared  his 
face  with  paint,  would  mount  a  table  and  recite  with  copious 


*  Some  derive  our  word  comedy  from  kumos,  the  Greek  term  for  a  band  of 
revellers. 


DRAMATIC    POETRY.  193 

gestures  some  mythological  legend,  perhaps  relating  to  Bac- 
chus. 

With  a  trained  chorus,  Thespis  strolled  about  Greece,  stop- 
ping at  the  towns  to  give  his  exhibitions  on  the  wagon  which 
carried  his  machinery  and  skin-clad  troupe.  Dancing  was  a 
prominent  feature  of  his  entertainments.  His  pupil  Phryn'i- 
cus  improved  the  performance  by  exchanging  myths  for  real 
events  and  introducing  female  characters ;  but  the  recitations 
were  still  disconnected  and  the  plays  lacked  method ;  albeit 
Phrynicus  was  fined  by  the  Athenians  for  moving  their  feel- 
ings too  deeply  by  one  of  his  pieces. 

Birth  of  Tragedy.— Out  of  these  rude  materials,  ^Eschylus, 
who  was  born  about  ten  years  after  the  first  Thespian  exhibi- 
tion, constructed  genuine  tragedy.  He  added  a  second  actor 
and  remodelled  the  chorus,  making  it  secondary  to  the  dia- 
logue, and  instituting  a  connection  between  its  songs  and  the 
events  represented  on  the  stage.  Appropriate  theatrical  cos- 
tumes, stationary  scenery,  painted  masks,  and  thick-soled  bus- 
kins to  increase  the  height  of  the  performers,  complete  the 
list  of  his  innovations.  Thus  the  goat-song  of  early  days  de- 
veloped into  the  true  drama  (action),  the  crowning  effort  of 
Greek  genius.  Athens  had  the  honor  of  creating  and  per- 
fecting it ;  while  in  other  departments  of  verse  she  fell  be- 
hind her  neighbors,  in  dramatic  poetry  she  eclipsed  them  all. 

The  love  of  the  theatre  grew  into  a  passion  at  Athens. 
When  the  first  rude  structure  of  boards  gave  way  under  the 
weight  of  the  audience,  her  citizens  erected  a  permanent  edi- 
fice of  semicircular  form,  whose  seats,  rising  in  tiers,  were 
hewn  in  the  rocky  side  of  the  Acropolis.  This  new  theatre 
accommodated  thirty  thousand  persons,  who  sat  under  the 
shadow  of  Athens'  patron-goddess,  and  with  reverent  gaze 
watched  actors  and  chorus  go  through  their  parts  round  the 
altar  of  Bacchus. 

The  performances  took  place  by  day,  and  in  the  open  air, 


194  GRECIAN    LITERATURE. 

the  theatre  not  being  roofed.  They  began  immediately  after 
the  morning  meal,  and  on  great  occasions  seats  were  secured 
and  occupied  during  the  preceding  night.  It  was  the  custom 
of  those  who  desired  a  comfortable  sitting  to  bring  their  own 
cushions.  Tickets  of  admission  at  first  cost  one  drachma 
(18  cents);  but  Pericles  reduced  the  price  to  six  cents,  and 
thus  placed  dramatic  entertainments  within  the  reach  of  the 
poorest  citizens.  The  audience  sometimes  remained  in  the 
theatre  twelve  hours,  gossiping  during  the  intervals,  and  re- 
freshing themselves  with  cake,  wine,  and  sweetmeats. — In  an- 
cient Greece,  the  actor's  profession  was  lucrative  and  highly 
honorable  ;  dramatic  authors  not  unfrequentiy  performed  parts 
in  their  own  plays. 

Under  the  favoring  skies  of  Athens  the  drama  advanced  to 
perfection  with  marvellous  rapidity.  In  the  hands  of  ^schy- 
lus  it  was  all  grandeur ;  Sophocles  invested  it  with  beauty, 
and  Euripides  with  pathos.  These  three  tragic  poets,  almost 
contemporaries,  were  the  brightest  ornaments  of  the  Attic  cap- 
ital, where  there  were  many  bright.  Their  triumphs  cover  a 
period  of  seventy-eight  years  (484-406  B.C.),  including  the 
proud  age  of  Pericles,  but  extending  beyond  it  till  the  Pelo- 
ponnesian  War  had  deprived  Athens  of  her  supremacy.  Si- 
multaneously with  Sophocles  and  Euripides  flourished  Aris- 
tophanes, under  whom  comedy  reached  its  climax. 

It  has  been  computed  that  during  the  golden  age  250  dra- 
matic poets  flourished,  who  produced  more  than  3,400  plays. 
Out  of  this  vast  number,  only  44  have  survived  to  our  time. 

./Eschylus  (525-456  B.C.). — Eleusis,  a  hamlet  of  Attica,  was 
the  birthplace  of  ^Eschylus.  It  is  related  that  in  his  youth  he 
was  charged  with  watching  grapes,  and  overcome  by  slumber, 
saw  Bacchus  in  his  dreams,  who  bade  him  devote  himself  to 
tragedy.  The  boy  forgot  not  the  injunction  ;  he  applied  him- 
self diligently  to  study,  and  in  his  twenty-fifth  year  contended, 
though  unsuccessfully,  for  the  chaplet  of  ivy. 


AESCHYLUS.  195 

Ten  years  afterward,  he  acquitted  himself  so  bravely  in  the 
battle  of  Marathon  as  to  receive  a  special  prize,  and  have  his 
deeds  immortalized  in  a  painting  which  was  hung  in  the  thea- 
tre at  Athens.  He  also  won  distinction  at  Salamis  and  Pla- 
taea ;  and  the  name  of  one  of  his  brothers  was  long  remem- 
bered in  connection  with  the  sinking  of  the  Persian  admiral's 
galley.  During  the  flourishing  period  of  Athenian  history 
that  followed,  the  literary  reputation  of  ^Eschylus  became  as 
great  as  his  military  renown.  He  was  the  hero  of  thirteen 
poetical  victories. 

In  468  B.C.  ^schylus  left  Athens  for  the  court  of  Hiero, 
the  Syracusan  prince,  round  which  so  many  great  men  clus- 
tered. According  to  some,  the  unjust  award  of  the  tragic 
prize  to  Sophocles,  for  political  reasons,  was  the  cause  of  his 
going.  The  more  probable  account  is  that  his  exile  followed 
a  public  accusation  of  impiety,  for  disclosing  certain  religious 
mysteries  in  one  of  his  plays.  The  popular  excitement  ran 
high ;  the  poet  was  attacked  with  stones,  when  his  brother 
happily  averted  the  fury  of  the  mob  by  uncovering  before  them 
the  stump  of  his  own  arm,  which  had  been  mutilated  at  Sala- 
mis in  defence  of  his  country. 

Hiero  received  our  author  hospitably ;  and  the  poet  made 
return  by  writing  for  him  a  drama  called  "  the  Women  of 
Etna."  ^schylus  may  have  visited  Athens  after  this;  but 
if  so,  he  returned  to  Sicily  to  die,  in  the  sixty-ninth  year  of 
his  age.  While  he  sat  in  a  field  near  Gela  absorbed  in 
thought,  so  the  fable  goes,  an  eagle,  hovering  over  the  spot 
with  a  tortoise  in  its  talons,  let  the  tortoise  fall  on  his  bald 
crown,  which  it  mistook  for  a  shining  cobble-stone,  for  the 
purpose  of  breaking  the  shell.  The  bird's  aim  was  true ; 
and  the  blow  fractured  the  poet's  skull.  Thus,  in  fulfilment 
of  an  oracular  prediction,  ^Eschylus  received  his  death-stroke 
from  heaven. 

In  sublimity  and  power  of  dealing  with  the  terrible,  JEschy- 


190  GRECIAN   LITERATURE. 

lus  is  unequalled.  Even  the  resources  of  the  versatile  Greek 
tongue  were  hardly  adequate  to  the  expression  of  his  con- 
ceptions. He  found  congenial  subjects  only  among  the 
gods  and  demigods  of  mythology  or  the  tragical  events  of 
the  heroic  period.  His  genius  enabled  him  to  give  life 
and  shape  to  the  vast  and  the  supernatural,  as  few  others 
have  done — and  most  effectively,  though  his  plot  is  always 
simple. 

Sir  Walter  Scott  thus  speaks  of  ^Eschylus  in  his  Essay 
on  the  Drama:  —  "At  his  summons,  the  mysterious  and 
tremendous  volume  of  destiny,  in  which  are  inscribed  the 
dooms  of  gods  and  men,  seemed  to  display  its  leaves  of  iron 
before  the  appalled  spectators ;  the  more  than  mortal  voices 
of  deities,  Titans,  and  departed  heroes,  were  heard  in  awful 
conference;  Olympus  bowed,  and  its  divinities  descended; 
earth  yawned,  and  gave  up  the  pale  spectres  of  the  dead; 
and  the  yet  more  undefined  and  grisly  forms  of  those  in- 
fernal deities  who  struck  horror  into  the  gods  themselves. 
All  this  could  only  be  dared  and  clone  by  a  poet  of  the 
highest  order." 

But  seven  of  the  seventy-five  tragedies  of  ^Eschylus  are 
extant.  Of  these,  "  Prometheus  Chained  "  is  considered  the 
greatest,  and  from  it  we  have  selected  our  extracts.  The 
opening  scene  is  laid  on  the  grim  ocean's  shore  near  frown- 
ing Caucasus,  to  which,  in  obedience  to  Jove's  command, 
the  giant  Prometheus  is  to  be  chained.  For  thirty  thousand 
years  a  vulture  is  to  tear  his  vitals,  constantly  growing  out 
afresh,  as  a  punishment  for  his  having  given  fire  to  mortals, 
and  taught  them  useful  arts  in  opposition  to  the  will  of 
heaven.  Strength  and  Force,  grandly  personified,  drag  the 
victim  to  the  place  of  torture  ;  and  Vulcan,  the  god  of  fire, 
rivets  his  fetters  to  the  rock.  The  chorus  is  composed  of 
sea-nymphs,  who  come  to  offer  their  sympathy  to  the  sufferer 
and  advise  him  to  submit;  but  Prometheus,  who  is  the  em- 


PKOMETHEUS    CHAINED.  197 

bodiment  of  stern  independence,  fortitude,  and  decision,  en- 
dures unyieldingly  to  the  last.  Even  amid  "the  thunder's 
deepening  roar,  blazing  wreaths  of  lightning,  and  eddying 
sands  whirled  on  high,"  while  the  earth  rocks  to  its  centre, 
and  "boisterous  billows  rise,  confounding  sea  and  sky,"  he 
hurls  a  proud  defiance  at  his  oppressors. 

SCENE  FKOM  PKOMETHEUS  CHAINED. 

STROPHE. 

"  Thy  dire  disasters,  unexampled  wrongs, 

I  weep,  Prometheus. 
From  its  soft  founts  distilled,  the  flowing  tear 

My  cheek  bedashes. 

'Tis  hard,  most  hard  !     By  self-made  laws  Jove  rules, 
And  'gainst  the  host  of  primal  gods  he  points 

The  lordly  spear. 

ANTISTROPHE. 

With  echoing  groans  the  ambient  waste  bewails 

Thy  fate,  Prometheus ; 
The  neighboring  tribes  of  holy  Asia  weep 

For  thee,  Prometheus. 

For  thee  and  thine  !  names  mighty  and  revered 
Of  yore,  now  shamed,  dishonored,  and  cast  down, 

And  chained  with  thee. 

STROPHE. 

And  Colchis,  with  her  belted  daughters,  weeps 

For  thee,  Prometheus ; 

And  Scythian  tribes,  on  earth's  remotest  verge, 
Where  lone  Mseotis*  spreads  her  wintry  waters, 

Do  weep  for  thee. 

ANTISTROPHE. 

The  flower  of  Araby's  wandering  warriors  weep 

For  thee,  Prometheus ; 

And  they  who  high  their  airy  holds  have  perched 
On  Caucasus'  ridge,  with  pointed  lances  bristling, 

Do  weep  for  thee. 


*  The  Sea  of  Azof. 


198  GRECIAN   LITERATURE. 


EPODE. 

One  only  vexed  like  tbee,  and  even  as  thou 

In  adamant  bound, 
A  Titan,  and  a  god  scorned  by  tbe  gods, 

Atlas  I  knew. 

He  on  Ms  shoulders  the  surpassing  weight 
Of  the  celestial  pole  stoutly  upbore, 

And  groaned  beneath. 

Roars  billowy  Ocean,  and  the  Deep  sucks  back 
Its  waters  when  he  sobs ;  from  earth's  dark  cavea 

Deep  hell  resounds ; 
The  fountains  of  the  holy-streaming  rivers 

Do  moan  with  him. 

PROMETHEUS. — Deem  me  not  self-willed  nor  with  pridr 

high-strung, 

That  I  am  dumb  ;  my  heart  is  gnawed  to  see 
Myself  thus  mocked  and  jeered.     These  gods,  to  whom 
Owe  they  their  green  advancement  but  to  me  ? 
But  this  ye  know ;  and,  not  to  teach  the  taught, 
I  '11  speak  of  it  no  more.     Of  human  kind, 
My  great  offence  in  aiding  them,  in  teaching 
The  babe  to  speak,  and  rousing  torpid  mind 
To  take  the  grasp  of  itself — of  this  I  '11  talk ; 
Meaning  to  mortal  men  no  blame,  but  only 
The  true  recital  of  mine  own  deserts. 
For,  soothly,  having  eyes  to  see  they  saw  not, 
And  hearing  heard  not ;  but,  like  dreamy  phantoms, 
A  random  life  they  led  from  year  to  year, 
All  blindly  floundering  on.     No  craft  they  knew 
With  woven  brick  or  jointed  beam  to  pile 
The  sunward  porch  ;  but  in  the  dark  earth  burrowed 
And  housed,  like  tiny  ants  in  sunless  caves. 
No  signs  they  knew  to  mark  the  wintry  year : 
The  flower-strewn  Spring,  and  the  fruit-laden  Summer, 
Uncalendared,  unregistered,  returned — 
Till  I  the  difficult  art  of  the  stars  revealed, 
Their  risings  and  their  settings.     Numbers,  too, 
I  taught  them  (a  most  choice  device),  and  how 
By  marshalled  signs  to  fix  their  shifting  thoughts, 
That  Memory,  mother  of  Muses,  might  achieve 
Her  wondrous  works.     I  first  slaved  to  the  yoke 
Both  ox  and  ass.     I,  the  rein-loving  steeds 
(Of  wealth's  gay-flaunting  pomp  the  chiefest  pride) 
Joined  to  the  car ;  and  bade  them  ease  the  toils 
Of  laboring  men  vicarious.     I  the  first 
Upon  the  lint-winged  car  of  mariner 


PBOMETHEUS   CHAINED.  199 

Was  launched,  sea-wandering.     Such  wise  arts  I  found, 
To  soothe  the  ills  of  man's  ephemeral  life  ; 
But  for  myself,  plunged  in  this  depth  of  woe, 
No  prop  I  find. 

CHORUS. — Sad  chance !     Thy  wit  hath  slipt 
From  its  firm  footing  theu  when  needed  most, 
Like  some  unlearued  leech  who  many  healed, 
But  being  sick  himself,  from  all  his  store, 
Cannot  cull  out  one  medicinal  drug. 

PROMETHEUS. — Hear  me  yet  further ;  and  in  hearing  marvel, 
What  arts  and  curious  shifts  my  wit  devised. 
Chiefest  of  all,  the  cure  of  dire  disease 
Men  owe  to  me.     Nor  healing  food,  nor  drink, 
Nor  unguent  knew  they,  but  did  slowly  wither 
And  waste  away  for  lack  of  pharmacy, 
Till  taught  by  me  \o  mix  the  soothing  drug 
And  check  corruption's  march.     I  fixed  the  art 
Of  divination  with  its  various  phase 
Of  dim  revealiugs,  making  dreams  speak  truth, 
Stray  voices,  and  encounters  by  the  way 
Significant ;  the  flight  of  taloned  birds 
On  right  and  left  I  marked — these  fraught  with  ban, 
With  blissful  augury  those.     I  first  did  wrap 
In  the  smooth  fat  the  thighs;  first  burnt  the  loins, 
Aud  from  the  flickering  flame  taught  men  to  spell 
No  easy  lore,  and  cleared  the  fire-faced  signs* 
Obscure  before.     Yet  more  :  I  probed  the  earth, 
To  yield  its  hidden  wealth  to  help  man's  weakness — 
Iron,  copper,  silver,  gold.     None  but  a  fool, 
A  prating  fool,  will  stint  me  of  this  praise. 
And  thus,  with  one  short  word  to  sum  the  tale, 
Prometheus  taught  all  arts  to  mortal  men." 

JOHX  STUART  BLACKIE. 

Prometheus  may  be  regarded  as  typifying  the  spirit  of 
progress,  bound  by  the  shackles  of  inevitable  destiny,  chaf- 
ing under  its  enslavement,  but  enduring  contumely  and  suf- 
fering rather  than  yield  to  tyranny.  The  weird  wail  of  lo  on 
leaving  Prometheus,  wrung  from  her  by  the  persecution  of 
Juno,  is  thus  rendered  by  Mrs.  Browning,  with  all  the  wild- 
ness  and  fire  of  the  original : — 


*  The  sacrificial  flame,  from  which  omens  were  taken. 


200 


GRECIAN   LITERATURE. 


"Io.— Eleleu!  Eleleu ! 

How  the  spasm  and  the  pain, 
And  the  fire  ou  the  brain, 

Strike  me  burning  through ! 
How  the  sting  of  the  curse,  all  aflame  as  it  flew, 

Pricks  me  onward  again ! 
How  my  heart,  in  its  terror,  is  spurning  my  breast  I 

And  my  eyes,  like  the  wheels  of  a  chariot,  roll  round  ; 
I  am  whirled  from  my  course,  to  the  east  and  the  west, 
In  the  whirlwind  of  frenzy  all  madly  inwound— 
And  my  mouth  is  unbridled  for  anguish  and  hate, 
And  my  words  beat  in  vain,  in  wild  storms  of  unrest, 
On  the  sea  of  desolate  fate." 

EXTANT    PLAYS    OF    /ESCHYLUS. 


PROMETHEUS  CHAINED. 

SKVEN  AGAINST  THEBES.  Founded  on 
the  siege  of  Thebes  by  seven  Argive 
chiefs,  who  espouse  the  cause  of 
Polyni'ces  against  his  brother  Ete'- 
ocles,  the  latter  having  seized  the 
crown  contrary  to  agreement.  A 
great  favorite,  and  the  poet's  special 
pride. 

THE  PERSIANS.  Subject,  the  over- 
throw of  Xerxes :  thought  to  be  the 
oldest  Greek  drama  extant. 

THE  SUPPLIANTS.  Danaus  and  his 
fifty  daughters  solicit  of  the  king  of 
Argos  protection  from  their  enemies. 
The  weakest  of  the  seven. 


AGAMEMNON.  The  murder  of  Aga- 
memnon, on  his  return  from  Troy, 
by  his  wife  Clytemnestra  and  her 
paramour  ^Egisthus,  is  the  material 
part  of  the  plot. 

CHOEPHOR^E  (libation-bearers).  Based 
on  the  avenging  of  the  crime  by  Ores- 
tes, Agamemnon's  son,  who  slays  his 
mother  and  her  guilty  partner. 

THE  FURIES.  Here  we  have  the  pur- 
suit of  the  parricide  by  the  Furies. — 
Clytemnestra,  the  Lady  Macbeth  of 
the  Greek  stage ;  her  deep-laid  plan, 
her  cunning  welcome  of  her  husband, 
the  fatal  strokes  dealt  by  her  own 
hand,  her  fiendish  glorying  in  the  deed 
of  blood, — touched  with  masterly  skill. 


The  three  tragedies  last  named  constitute  what  is  called  a  trilogy,  or  group  of 
three  dramas  founded  upon  one  story.  "  Prometheus  Chained "  was  one  of  a 
trilogy,  of  which  the  other  two  members  are  lost. 

Sophocles  (495-405  B.C.),  the  rival  of  ^Eschylus,  was  born 
at  Colo'nus,  an  Attic  borough  a  short  mile  from  the  capital. 
He  was  fortunate  in  having  a  father  able  to  give  him  a  liberal 
education,  and  entered  the  service  of  the  Muses  at  an  early 
age.  His  skill  in  music  and  the  exercises  of  .the  gymnasium 
won  him  many  a  garland ;  and  when  hardly  sixteen,  unrobed 


SOPHOCLES.  201 

and  crowned,  he  led  the  choir  of  boys  with  his  ivory  lyre  in 
the  chant  of  triumph  which  the  Athenians  poured  forth  round 
the  trophy  raised  at  Salamis. 

Sophocles  made  his  de'but  as  a  tragic  writer  in  that  success- 
ful contest  with  ^Eschylus  which,  some  think,  cost  Athens  her 
grand  old  dramatist.  Fame  spread  the  news,  and  Greece 
looked  to  Sophocles  as  the  coming  man.  A  succession  of 
plays  extended  his  popularity.  He  added  nineteen  prizes  to 
the  one  wrested  from  ^Eschylus  in  468  B.C.  In  the  year  440 
he  completed  the  drama  of  "  Antig'one,"  the  oldest  of  his 
seven  surviving  tragedies,  which  secured  for  him  an  impor- 
tant official  position.  The  "  Antigone  "  ushered  in  the  most 
active  portion  of  its  author's  literary  life,  during  which  eighty- 
one  of  his  pieces  were  written.  Although  history  throws  lit- 
tle light  on  this  period  of  his  career,  we  know  that,  unlike  his 
great  contemporaries,  he  never  left  his  native  city  to  enjoy 
the  munificence  of  foreign  patrons.  The  Greek  theatre  was 
indebted  to  him  for  a  third  actor,  improvements  in  scenery, 
and  a  further  modification  of  the  chorus,  which  no  longer 
took  an  active  part  in  the  play. 

In  his  eightieth  year,  Sophocles  was  charged  with  imbecili- 
ty by  an  ungrateful  son,  who  regarded  with  jealous  eyes  his 
partiality  for  a  favorite  grandchild,  and  hoped  in  this  way  to 
obtain  control  of  his  property.  The  defence  of  the  alleged 
dotard  was  to  read  before  his  judges  a  choral  song  from  a  play 
which  he  had  just  finished — "CEdipus  at  Colonus"  (p.  206). 
The  vindication  was  complete ;  the  judges  at  once  rendered  a 
decision  in  the  old  poet's  favor,  and  in  a  burst  of  enthusiasm 
bore  him  home  in  triumph.  He  died  at  the  age  of  ninety. 
Some  tell  us  that  while  he  was  repeating  the  pathetic  plaints 
of  his  "Antigone,"  his  breath  suddenly  ceased;  others,  that 
after  gaining  a  tragic  victory,  he  died  of  excessive  joy  as  the 
crown  was  placed  on  his  brow.  He  left  the  Athenians  113 
dramas. 

I 


202  GRECIAN   LITERATURE. 

STYLE  OF  SOPHOCLES. — As  ^schylus  is  the  impersonation 
of  grandeur,  so  is  Sophocles  of  beauty  and  harmony.  He  de- 
scends from  the  sublime  heights  ./Eschylus  loved  to  tread,  and, 
appealing  to  our  sympathy  with  humanity,  finds  his  way  into 
the  secret  chambers  of  the  heart.  His  language  is  pure;  his 
style,  elegant,  dignified,  vivacious — faultless  ;  in  allusion  to  his 
sweet  diction,  he  was  called  by  the  ancients  the  Bee  of  Attica. 
The  type  of  manly  beauty  and  intellectual  power,  aesthetic 
culture  and  lofty  morality,  it  seems  as  if  Sophocles  had  been 
"  specially  created  to  represent  Greek  art  in  its  most  refined 
and  exquisitely  balanced  perfection." 

THE  MASTERPIECE  OF  SOPHOCLES  is  "  King  CEdipus."  Lai- 
us,  a  Theban  monarch,  told  by  an  oracle  (such  was  the  legend) 
that  his  children  would  be  the  cause  of  his  death,  had  his  in- 
fant son  CEdipus  exposed  on  Mount  Citbaeron,  hoping  thus  to 
escape  his  destiny.  But  the  boy  was  discovered  by  some 
herdsmen  and  carried  to  Corinth,  where  he  grew  to  man's 
estate  as  the  adopted  son  and  heir  of  the  king. 

Warned  at  the  Delphic  shrine  to  beware  of  his  native  land 
lest  he  should  imbrue  his  hands  in  his  father's  blood,  and  be- 
lieving Corinth  to  be  his  birthplace,  he  withdrew  to  Thebes ; 
but  on  the  way  he  met  Lai'us,  and,  not  knowing  who  he  was, 
killed  him  in  a  quarrel.  Arrived  at  Thebes,  he  won  the  hand 
of  the  widow  Jocasta,  his  own  mother,  who  bore  him  four  chil- 
dren. All  went  well  for  a  time.  At  length,  however,  an  epi- 
demic broke  out;  and  the  oracle  assigned  as  its  cause  the 
presence  of  the  late  king's  murderer.  CEdipus  strained  every 
nerve  to  discover  the  offender,  and  at  last,  to  his  horror,  fas- 
tened the  crime,  and  the  more  terrible  guilt  of  parricide,  upon 
himself.  Unhappy  Jocasta  hanged  herself  in  the  palace,  and 
CEdipus  in  his  frenzy  beat  out  his  eyes  with  her  gold-embossed 
buckles. 

The  play  opens  at  Thebes,  during  the  plague.  CEdipus,  in 
conversation  with  a  priest  and  Creon,  Jocasta's  brother,  is  in- 


EXTRACT   FROM   SOPHOCLES.  203 

formed  of  Apollo's  will, — that,  to  avert  the  evil,  the  land  must 
be  purified  by  the  punishment  of  the  assassin.  After  the 
catastrophe  above  related,  blinded  CEdipus  bemoans  his  lot  in 
heart-rending  utterances,  but  finally  accepts  his  fate  with  res- 
ignation. We  give  the 

CLOSING  SCENE  OF  KING  (EDIPUS. 
[Enter  Creon.~\ 

"  CREOX. — I  have  not  come,  O  (Edipus,  to  scorn, 
Nor  to  reproach  thee  for  thy  former  crimes ; 
But  ye,  if  ye  have  lost  your  sense  of  shame 
For  mortal  men,  yet  reverence  the  light 
Of  him,  our  King,  the  Sun-god,  source  of  life, 
Nor  sight  so  foul  expose  unveiled  to  view, 
Which  neither  earth,  nor  shower  from  heaven,  nor  light, 
Can  see  and  welcome.     But  with  utmost  speed 
Convey  him  in  ;  for  nearest  kin  alone 
Can  meetly  see  and  hear  their  kindred's  ills. 

(EDIPUS. — Oh !  by  the  gods !  since  thou,  beyond  my  hopes, 
Dost  come  all  noble  unto  me  all  base, 
In  one  thing  hearken.     For  thy  good  I  ask. 

CREOX. — And  what  request  seek'st  thou  so  wistfully  ? 

CEDIPUS. — Cast  me  with  all  thy  speed  from  out  this  land, 
Where  never  more  a  man  may  look  on  me ! 

CREOX. — Be  sure  I  would  have  done  so,  but  I  wished 
To  learn  what  now  the  God  will  bid  us  do. 

CEDIPUS. — The  oracle  was  surely  clear  enough 
That  I,  the  parricide,  the  pest,  should  die. 

CREOX. — So  ran  the  words.     But  in  our  present  need 
'Tis  better  to  learn  surely  what  to  do. 

CEDIPUS. — And  will  ye  ask  for  one  so  vile  as  I  ? 

CKEOX. — Yea,  now  thou  too  wonld'st  trust  the  voice  of  God. 

CEDIPUS. — And  this  I  charge  thee,  yea,  and  supplicate : 
For  her  within,  provide  what  tomb  thou  wilt, 
For  for  thine  own  most  meetly  thou  wilt  care. 
But  never  let  this  city  of  my  fathers 
Be  sentenced  to  receive  me  as  its  guest ; 
But  suffer  me  on  yon  lone  hills  to  dwell, 
Where  stands  Cithajron,  chosen  as  my  tomb 
While  still  I  lived,  by  mother  and  by  sire, 
That  I  may  die  by  those  who  sought  to  kill. 
And  for  my  boys,  O  Creon,  lay  no  charge 
Of  them  upon  me.     They  are  grown,  nor  need, 
Where'er  they  be,  feel  lack  of  means  to  live. 
But  for  my  two  poor  girls,  all  desolate, 


204  GRECIAN   LITERATURE. 

To  whom  their  table  never  brought  a  meal 
Without  my  presence,  but  whate'er  I  touched. 
They  still  partook  of  with  me — these  I  care  for. 
Yea,  let  me  touch  them  with  my  hands,  and  Aveep 
To  them  my  sorrows.     Grant  it,  O  my  prince ! 

O  born  of  noble  nature ! 

Could  I  but  touch  them  with  my  hands,  I  feel 
Still  I  should  have  them  mine,  as  when  I  saw. 

[Enter  Antigone  and  Jsmene.] 

What  say  I  ?     What  is  this  I 
Do  I  not  hear,  ye  gods !  their  dear,  loved  tones, 
Broken  with  sobs,  and  Creon,  pitying  me, 
Hath  sent  the  dearest  of  my  children,  to  me  ? 
Is  it  not  so  ? 

CREOX. — It  is  so.    I  am  he  who  gives  thee  this, 
Knowing  the  joy  thou  hadst  in  them  of  old. 

CEDIPUS. — Good  luck  have  thou !     And  may  the  Powers  on 

high 

Guard  thy  path  better  than  they  guarded  mine! 
Where  are  ye,  O  my  children  ?     Come,  oh !  come 
To  these  your  brother's  hands,  which  but  now  tore 
Your  father's  eyes,  that  once  were  bright  to  see, 
Who,  O  my  children,  blind  and  knowing  naught, 
Became  your  father — how,  I  may  not  tell. 
I  weep  for  you,  though  sight  is  mine  no  more, 
Picturing  in  mind  the  sad  and  dreary  life 
Which  waits  you  in  the  world  in  years  to  come ; 
For  to  what  friendly  gatherings  will  ye  go, 
Or  festive  joys,  from  whence,  for  stately  show, 
Once  yonrs,  ye  shall  not  home  return  in  tears? 
Who  is  there,  O  my  children,  rash  enough 
To  make  his  own  the  shame  that  then  will  fall 
On  those  who  bore  me,  and  on  you  as  well  ? 
What  evil  fails  us  here  ?     Such  shame  as  this 
Will  men  lay  on  you,  and  who  then  will  dare 
To  make  you  his  in  marriage?     None,  not  one, 
My  children!  but  ye  needs  must  waste  away, 
Unwedded,  childless.     Thou,  Meuceceus'  sou, 
Since  thou  alone  art  left  a  father  to  them, 
Suffer  them  not  to  wander  husbandless, 
Nor  let  thy  kindred  beg  their  daily  bread ; 
But  look  on  them  with  pity,  seeing  them 
At  their  age,  but  for  thee,  deprived  of  all. 
O  noble  soul,  I  pray  thee,  touch  my  hand 
In  token  of  consent.     And  ye,  my  girls. 
Had  ye  the  minds  to  hearken,  I  would  fain 
Give  ye  much  counsel.     As  it  is,  pray  for  me 


KING   CEDIPUS.  205 

To  live  where'er  is  meet ;  and  for  yourselves 
A  brighter  life  than  his  ye  call  your  sire. 

CREOX. — Enough  of  tears  and  words.     Go  thou  withia 

OEDIPUS. — I  needs  must  yield,  however  hard  it  be. 

CREOX. — In  their  right  season,  all  things  prosper  best. 

CEDIPUS. — Kuow'st  thou  my  wish  ? 

CREOX. —  Speak,  and  I  then  shall  hear. 

CEDIPUS. — That  thou  should'st  send  me  far  away  from  home  ? 

CREOX. — Thou  askest  what  the  gods  alouo  can  give. 

CEDIPUS. — And  yet  I  go  most  hated  of  the  gods. 

CREOX. — And  therefore  it  may  chance  thou  gain'st  thy  -wish. 

OEDIPUS. — And  dost  thou  promise,  then,  to  grant  it  me  ? 

CREOX. — I  am  not  wont  to  utter  idle  words. 

CEDIPUS. — Lead  me  then  hence. 

CREOX. —  Go  thou,  but  leave  the  girls. 

OEDIPUS. — Ah !  take  them  not  from  me. 

CREOX. —  Thou  must  not  think 

To  have  thy  way  in  all  things  all  thy  life. 
Thou  hadst  it  once,  yet  went  it  ill  with  thee. 

CHORUS. — Ye  men  of  Thebes,  behold  this  CEdipus, 
Who  knew  the  famous  riddle*  and  was  noblest, 
Who  envied  no  one's  fortune  and  success  : 
And  lo !  in  what  a  sea  of  direst  woe 
He  now  is  plunged.     From  hence  the  lesson  draw, 
To  reckon  no  man  happy  till  ye  see 
The  closing  day  ;  until  he  pass  the  bourn 
Which  severs  life  fromVleatb,  unscathed  by  woe." — PLUMPTRE. 

CEdipus  ended  his  days  in  exile  at  Colonus,  where  he  was 
received  by  Theseus,  the  hero  of  Attica,  and  attended  to  the 
last  by  his  faithful  daughter  Antigone.  His  death  is  the 
subject  of  the  play  "CEdipus  at  Colonus,"  written  at  the 
close  of  the  poet's  life  and  reflecting  the  gentleness  and  se- 
renity of  his  last  days.  It  contains  one  of  the  gems  of  Soph- 
ocles— that  chorus  which  has  immortalized  the  lovely  sce- 
nery about  Colonus — which  the  old  poet  recited  before  the 
Athenian  judges  to  prove  his  sanity.  Bulwer  furnishes  us 
a  spirited  version  of  this  famous  passage : — The  chorus  in- 
forms the  outcast  CEdipus  that  he  has  come  to  ColonQs, 

*  The  riddle  proposed  by  the  Sphinx :  "  What  animal  is  that  which  goes  on 
four  feet  in  the  morning,  two  at  noon,  and  three  at  evening  V"  The  answer  of 
CEdipus  was,  Mun. 


200 


GRECIAN    LITEKATUKE. 


"  Where  ever  and  aye,  through  the  greenest  vale, 
Gush  the  wailing  notes  of  the  nightingale, 
From  her  home  where  the  dark-hued  ivy  weaves 
With  the  grove  of  the  god  a  night  of  leaves ; 
And  the  vines  blossom  ont  from  the  lonely  glade, 
And  the  suns  of  the  summer  are  dim  in  the  shade, 
And  the  storms  of  the  winter  have  never  a  breeze, 
That  can  shiver  a  leaf  from  the  charmed  trees ; 
For  there,  oh !  ever  there 
With  that  fair  monntaiu  throng, 

Who  his  sweet  nurses  were, 

Wild  Bacchus  holds  his  court,  the  conscious  woods  among! 
Daintily,  ever  there, 
Crown  of  the  mighty  goddesses  of  old, 
Clustering  Narcissus  with  his  glorious  hues 
Springs  from  his  bath  of  heaven's  delicious  dews, 
And  the  gay  crocus  sheds  his  rays  of  gold. 
And  wandering  there  forever 
The  fountains  are  at  play, 
And  Cephissus  feeds  his  river 

From  their  sweet  urns,  day  by  day  ; 
The  river  knows  no  dearth ; 
Adown  the  vale  the  lapsing  waters  glide, 
And  the  pure  rain  of  that  pellucid  tide 

Calls  the  rife  beauty  from  the  heart  .of  earth ; 
While  by  the  banks  the  Muses'  choral  train 
Are  duly  heard — and  there  Love  checks  her  golden  rein." 


EXTANT    PLAYS    OF    SOPHOCLES. 


KING  OEnirus:  this  and  the  next  two 
tragedies  form  a  trilogy. 

(Eoipus  AT  COLONUS:  well  adapted 
to  flatter  the  local  pride  of  the  Athe- 
nians. 

ANTIGONE  :  based  on  the  story  of  "  the 
Seven  against  Thebes."  Antigone 
was  the  daughter  of  (Edipus.  Her 
uncle,  King  Creon,  forbids  the  burial 
of  her  brother  Polyni'ces,  the  in- 
stigator of  the  war  and  one  of  its 
victims.  Sisterly  affection  proves 
stronger  than  fear  of  the  royal  de- 
cree ;  Antigone  performs  the  last  sad 
offices  for  her  brother,  and  is  en- 
tombed alive  for  her  disobedience. 


THE  TKACHINIAN  WOMEN  :  subject,  the 
poisoning  of  Hercules  by  his  wife 
De'ianira. 

ELECTRA.:  called  from  the  heroine, 
Electra,  daughter  of  Agamemnon, 
who  is  overpowered  by  hatred  for 
her  unnatural  mother  and  yEgisthus. 
The  plot  culminates  with  the  slaugh- 
ter of  the  guiltj7  pair  by  Orestes  the 
avenger.  Finest  passage,  the  meet- 
ing between  Orestes  and  his  sister. 

AJAX  :  founded  upon  the  madness  of 
Ajax  in  consequence  of  the  bestowal 
of  Achilles'  arms  on  Ulysses  in  pref- 
erence to  himself;  his  suicide  and 
funeral. 


EURIPIDES.  207 


PHILOCTE'TES  :  the  hero  was  a  Thes- 
salian  prince,  whom  the  Greeks 
treacherously  abandoned  on  the  isl- 
and of  Lemnos.  Afterward,  when 
informed  by  the  oracle  that  Troy 


would  not  fall  until  the  arrows  of 
Hercules,  which  Philoctetes  had, 
were  brought  to  bear  on  its  defend- 
ers, they  induced  him  to  take  part  in 
the  war. 


Euripides. — In  480  B.C.,  on  the  island  of  Salamis,  while 
the  battle  that  was  to  decide  the  future  of  Greece  raged 
in  the  neighboring  waters,  Euripides  first  saw  the  light. 
^Eschylus,  in  his  prime,  was  at  the  time  bravely  fighting  on 
an  Athenian  galley;  while  Sophocles,  but  fifteen  years  of 
age,  stood  ready,  should  the  gods  grant  his  countrymen  suc- 
cess, to  celebrate  the  victory  with  the  arts  in  which  he  ex- 
celled. 

The  third  of  the  illustrious  tragic  trio  was  carefully  trained; 
painting,  rhetoric,  and  philosophy,  besides  the  customary 
gymnastic  exercises,  engaged  his  attention ;  and  he  had  not 
attained  his  eighteenth  year  when  he  finished  his  first  drama. 
Not,  however,  until  441  B.C.  did  he,  by  winning  the  tragic 
prize,  verify  a  prediction  made  before  his  birth  that  he  would 
be  crowned  with  sacred  chaplets. 

His  reputation  was  now  secure;  and  though  he  was  ex- 
posed to  bitter  partisan  attacks,  his  plays  became  widely 
popular.  The  philosopher  Socrates  always  went  to  see  them 
performed,  and  is  even  suspected  of  having  had  a  hand  in 
their  composition.  So  great  was  the  estimation  in  which 
they  were  held  at  Syracuse,  that,  after  the  surrender  of  the 
Athenian  armies  which  had  attempted  the  reduction  of  that 
city  (413  B.C.),  such  of  the  soldiers  as  could  teach  their 
captors  verses  of  Euripides  were  exempted  from  the  cruel- 
ties inflicted  on  their  fellows,  and  sent  home  to  thank  the 
author  for  their  liberty.  Athens  itself  is  said  to  have  been 
saved  nine  years  later,  when  the  Spartan  general  Lysander 
was  minded  to  lay  it  in  ashes,  by  the  singing  of  a  chorus 
of  Euripides  at  the  triumphal  banquet ;  who  could  raise  his 


208  GRECIAN   LITERATURE. 

hand  against  the  city  of  one  that  had  discoursed  poetry  so 
sweet  ? 

Like  his  brother  tragedian,  Euripides  drew  his  subjects 
from  the  mythical  history  of  his  country.  His  plays  num- 
bered seventy-five,  some  say  ninety-two  ;  and  the  best  of 
them  rank  with  the  best  pieces  on  the  roll  of  dramatic 
literature.  He  composed  slowly  and  with  care.  On  one 
occasion,  it  is  related,  when  he  had  completed  only  four 
verses  in  three  days,  Euripides  was  told  by  a  poetaster  that 
in  the  same  time  he  had  produced  a  hundred.  "And  yours," 
replied  the  great  man,  "will  live  for  three  days;  mine,  for- 
ever." 

Euripides  spent  the  last  two  years  of  his  life  at  the  Mace- 
donian court,  then  the  abode  of  many  illustrious  men.  He 
went  there  in  search  of  rest,  but  found  that  he  had  only  ex- 
changed persecution  at  home  for  jealousy  abroad.  The 
honors  heaped  upon  him  by  the  Macedonian  prince,  together 
with  his  own  superior  genius,  raised  him  up  enemies.  In 
the  king's  savage  hounds,  if  we  may  credit  the  legend,  they 
saw  the  means  of  removing  an  obnoxious  rival ;  and  while  ' 
Euripides  was  walking  in  his  patron's  garden,  he  was  at- 
tacked and  fatally  mangled  by  the  fierce  brutes  (406  B.C.). 

Athens  felt  the  loss,  and  went  into  mourning  at  news  of 
his  death;  vainly  she  supplicated  the  Macedonian  king  for 
his  ashes.  They  were  magnificently  interred  at  Pella  ;  while 
his  country  was  forced  to  remain  content  with  a  statue,  and 
a  cenotaph  on  which  was  inscribed,  "  All  Greece  is  the 
monument  of  Euripides."  His  verses,  as  he  predicted,  were 
immortal ;  admiration  of  them  led  an  epigrammatist  to  write  : 

"  If  it  be  true  that  in  the  grave  the  dead 
Have  sense  and  knowledge,  as  some  men  have  said, 
I'd  hang  myself  to  see  Euripides." 

With  Euripides,  the  glory  of  the  Athenian  stage  descended 


POETRY    OP   EURIPIDES.  209 

into  the  tomb ;  and  Tragedy  found  no  one  worthy  to  fill  his 
place  till  Shakespeare's  day. 

STYLE  OF  EURIPIDES. — S-opnocles  once  remarked  that  he 
represented  men  as  they  ought  to  be,  Euripides  as  they  are. 
This  holding  of  the  mirror  up  to  nature  was  what  Athenian 
taste  began  to  demand;  Euripides  had  the  tact  to  see  what 
was  wanted,  and  the  genius  to  make  the  innovation  success- 
fully. His  heroes  and  heroines  talked  and  acted  like  men 
and  women  of  the  day ;  hence  he  has  been  accused  of  de- 
grading his  art  by  introducing  the  commonplace  into  his 
dramas,  of  lowering  Greek  tragedy  to  the  level  of  every-day 
life. 

A  more  serious  charge  also  was  laid  at  his  door — that  of 
impiety.  Euripides  rejected  the  faith  of  his  fathers;  we 
need  not,  therefore,  look  in  his  plays  for  the  religious  fervor 
of  ^Eschylus,  or  even  for  the  high  moral  tone  of  Sophocles. 
In  one  of  his  lines  the  doctrine  of  mental  reservation  ap- 
pears, 

"  My  tongue  took  an  oath,  but  my  mind  is  unsworn" — 

a  sentiment  which  led  to  his  prosecution  for  justifying  per- 
jury. 

While  Euripides  was  inferior  to  ^Eschylus  in  majesty,  to 
Sophocles  in  symmetry  and  finish,  he  surpassed  both  in  de- 
lineating character,  and  particularly  in  representing  the  hu- 
man passions.  He  was  the  most  pathetic  of  the  three,  and 
in  the  portraiture  of  woman  stands  second  to  no  poet,  an- 
cient or  modern.  His  heroines  are  his  master -figures. 
Traces  of  art  are  sometimes  apparent  in  his  writings,  and 
occasionally  he  verges  on  the  sensational. 

THE  MEDE'A  is  the  chef  d'ceuvre  of  this  author.  Its  plot 
is  derived  from  the  story  of  Medea,  a  Colchian  princess  pro- 
ficient in  sorcery.  She  won  the  love  of  the  Greek  prince 

Jason,  who  came  to  Colchis  in  the  ship  Argo  to  obtain  pos- 

I  2 


210  GRECIAN   LITEEATUEE. 

session  of  the  Golden  Fleece,  helped  him  to  secure  the  object 
of  his  search,  and  eloped  with  him  to  Greece.  But  when 
Jason  beheld  the  fair  Glance,  daughter  of  the  King  of  Cor- 
inth, he  resolved  to  thrust  aside  Medea  in  favor  of  his  new 
love,  forgetful  of  the  dark  power  of  the  enchantress. 

The  opening  scene  is  laid  at  Corinth,  after  the  nuptials  of 
Jason  and  Glauce.  The  infidelity  of  her  husband  has  trans- 
formed Medea  into  a  tigress,  whose  conflicting  passions  the 
poet  touches  with  consummate  skill — the  anger  of  the  dis- 
honored wife,  the  love  of  the  tender  mother,  the  steeling  of 
the  woman's  heart  against  its  deep  affection,  the  all-absorbing 
thirst  for  vengeance. 

The  play  ends  with  Medea's  terrible  revenge.  Banished 
by  the  king  from  Corinth,  she  begs  for  one  day  of  prepara- 
tion, in  which  she  sends  to  the  bride  a  costly  robe  and  golden 
wreath  poisoned  by  her  fell  arts.  The  unsuspecting  Glauce 
smilingly  arrays  herself  in  these  presents ;  but  her  smiles 
give  place  to  shrieks  of  agony  as  the  enchanted  garments 
burn  into  her  flesh  and  the  chaplet  blazes  in  her  hair.  Her 
father  tries  to  save  her,  and  perishes  in  her  flaming  embrace. 
Medea  completes  her  work  by  the  murder  of  her  two  chil- 
dren— Jason's  sons — and  after  jeering  at  her  husband's  grief 
disappears  with  the  corpses  in  a  chariot  whirled  through  the 
air  by  dragons. 

One  of  the  most  affecting  passages  in  Euripides  is  found  in 

MEDEA'S  LAST  WORDS  TO  HER  SONS. 

"  O  children,  children  !  you  Lave  still  a  city, 
A  home,  where,  lost  to  me  and  all  my  -woe, 
Yon  will  live  out  your  lives  without  a  mother  ! 
But  I — lo !  I  am  for  another  laud, 
Leaving  the  joy  of  yon:  to  see  you  happy, 
To  deck  your  marriage-bed,  to  greet  your  bride, 
To  light  your  wedding-torch,  shall  not  be  mine! 
O  me!  thrice  wretched  in  my  own  self-will ! 
In  vain  then,  dear  my  children !  did  I  rear  yon  ; 
In  vain  I  travailed,  and  with  wearing  sorrow 


EXTRACT    FROM    EURIPIDES.  211 

Bore  bitter  anguish  in  the  hour  of  childbirth ! 

Yea,  of  a  sooth,  I  had  great  hope  of  you, 

That  you  should  cherish  iny  old  age,  and  deck 

My  corpse  with  loving  bauds,  and  make  me  blessed 

'Mid  women  in  my  death.     But  now,  ah  me ! 

Hath  perished  that  sweet  dream.     For  long  without  you 

I  shall  drag  out  a  dreary  doleful  age. 

And  you  shall  never  see  your  mother  more 

With  your  dear  eyes  :  for  all  your  life  is  chauged. 

Woe !  woe ! 

Why  gaze  you  at  me  with  your  eyes,  my  children  ? 
Why  smile  your  last  sweet  smile  ?     Ah  me  !  ah  me! 
What  shall  I  do  ?     My  heart  dissolves  within  me, 
Friends,  when  I  see  the  glad  eyes  of  my  sons ! 
I  cannot.     No  :  my  will  that  was  so  steady, 
Farewell  to  it.     They  too  shall  go  with  me  : 
Why  should  I  wound  their  sire  with  what  wounds  them, 
Heaping  tenfold  his  woes  on  my  own  head  ? 
No,  no,  I  shall  not.     Perish  my  proud  will. 

Yet  whence  this  weakness  ?     Do  I  wish  to  reap 

The  scorn  that  springs  from  enemies  unpunished? 

Dare  it  I  must.     What  craven  fool  am  I, 

To  let  soft  thoughts  flow  trickling  from  my  soul ! 

Go,  boys,  into  the  house :  and  he  who  may  not 

Be  present  at  my  solemn  sacrifice — 

Let  him  see  to  it.     My  hand  shall  not  falter. 

Ah !  ah  !* 

Nay,  do  not,  O  my  heart!  do  not  this  thing! 
Suffer  them,  O  poor  fool ;  yea,  spare  thy  children! 
There  in  thy  exile  they  will  gladden  thee. 
Not  so  :  by  all  the  plagues  of  nethermost  hell 
It  shall  not  be  that  I,  that  I  should  suffer 
My  foes  to  triumph  and  insult  my  sons! 
Die  must  they  :  this  must  be,  and  since  it  must, 
I,  I  myself  will  slay  them,  I  who  bore  them. 
So  is  it  fixed,  and  there  is  no  escape. 
Even  as  I  speak,  the  crown  is  on  her  head, 
The  bride  is  dying  in  her  robes,  I  know  it. 
But  since  this  path  most  piteous  I  tread, 
Sending  them  forth  on  paths  more  piteous  far, 
I  will  embrace  my  children.     O  my  sons ! 
Give,  give  your  mother  your  dear  hands  to  kiss. 
O  dearest  hands,  and  mouths  most  dear  to  me, 
And  forms  and  noble  faces  of  my  sons! 
Be  happy  even  there :  what  here  was  yours, 
Your  father  robs  you  of.     O  delicate  scent ! 
O  tender  touch  and  sweet  breath  of  my  boys ! 


212 


GRECIAN    LITERATURE. 


Go,  go,  go — leave  me !     Lo,  I  cannot  bear 

To  look  on  you :  my  woes  have  overwhelmed  me." 

SYMONDS. 

EXTANT  PLAYS  OF  EURIPIDES. 


ALCESTIS,  first  represented  438  B.C. 

MEDEA,  "  431    " 

HIPPOL'YTUS,      "  428    " 

HECUBA,  "  423    " 

HERACLI'D^E,       "  421    " 

THE  SUPPLIANTS. 

ION. 

THE  RAGING  HERCULES. 

ANDROMACHE. 

THE  TROJAN  WOMEN,  415  B.C. :  pa- 
thetic by  reason  of  the  plaints  of  the 
captive  women. 


ELECTRA,  first  represented  413  B.C. 

HELEN,  "  412    " 

IPHIGENI'A  AT  TAURIS. 

ORESTES,  408  B.C. :  demoralizing  in  its 
portraiture  of  crime. 

THE  PHOENICIAN  WOMEN. 

THE  FEMALE  BACCHANALIANS:  pro- 
duced at  the  Macedonian  court. 

IPIIIGENIA  AT  AULIS:  not  acted  till 
after  the  author's  death. 

CYCLOPS:  a  satyric  drama  (chorus  of 
satyrs). 


Lost  Tragedies. — Dramatic  literature  has  sustained  an  ir- 
reparable loss,  not  only  in  the  missing  plays  of  the  three 
great  masters,  but  also  in  those  numberless  works  of  their 
contemporaries  and  occasionally  successful  competitors  now 
buried  in  oblivion.  From  the  allusions  of  two  or  three  Greek 
authors,  a  few  meagre  particulars  may  be  gleaned,  now  of 
one,  now  of  another — but  they  only  serve  to  make  us  more 
painfully  conscious  of  our  loss. 

Greek  Comedy. — Comedy  was  older  than  tragedy  in  Greece. 
Thirty  years  before  the  time  of  Thespis,  Susa'rion  of  Meg'ara, 
in  his  burlesque  exhibitions,  improved  somewhat  on  the  ex- 
tempore jests  and  village-songs  of  the  Bacchic  revellers,  and 
hence  has  been  called  the  inventor  of  comedy.  Susarion 
was  no  great  lover  of  the  fair  sex,  if  we  may  judge  by  an  un- 
gallant  sentiment  of  his  which  has  been  preserved  :  "  Woman 
is  a  curse,  but  we  cannot  conduct  our  household  affairs  with- 
out this  curse  ;  therefore  to  marry  is  an  evil,  and  not  to  marry 
is  an  evil."  Perhaps  he  had  taken  to  wife  a  Xantippe. 

The  poet  Epicharmus,  also  of  Megara,  but  the  Sicilian  city 
of  that  name,  first  committed  his  effusions  to  writing ;  he  was 


GREEK    COMEDY.  213 

the  author  of  thirty-five  comedies,  some  of  them  on  subjects 
not  mythological. 

The  development  of  comedy,  however,  was  interrupted^ 
The  Tragic  Muse  enforced  her  claims  at  the  expense  of  her 
elder  sister,  and  the  latter  was  for  a  season  neglected.  But 
the  flourishing  era  of  republican  Athens,  when  the  poet  was 
free  to  lash  whom  he  chose,  saw  comedy  restored  to  the  favor 
of  the  satire -loving  people.  It  may  be  said  to  have  been 
perfected  by  Aristophanes.  He  not  only  ridiculed  the  follies 
and  vices  of  the  day,  laid  bare  family  secrets  on  the  stage, 
and  edified  his  audiences  by  caricaturing  the  rich  and  great 
with  masks  and  costumes  which  reproduced  their  peculiari- 
ties, but  fearlessly  assailed  the  government.  When  all  others 
shrunk  from  playing  so  dangerous  a  role,  he  himself  per- 
formed the  part  of  the  insolent  demagogue  Cleon  (originally 
a  leather-dresser),  whom  he  mercilessly  "cut  into  sandal- 
strips  "  in  his  "  Knights." 

Even  the  gods  were  not  slighted  by  the  comic  poets.  The 
gourmand  Hercules  devours  as  fast  as  the  cook  can  prepare 
victuals ;  Prometheus  is  protected  from  the  elements  by  an 
umbrella ;  Bacchus  swaggers  as  a  fop  and  coward.  Comedy 
in  the  hands  of  Aristophanes  and  his  contemporaries  was  to 
the  Athenians  what  our  press  is  to  us,  but  went  still  further. 
Always  personal  and  sometimes  scurrilous  in  its  attacks,  too 
often  coarse  and  licentious  in  its  tone,  it  yet  doubtless  ac- 
complished much  good  in  restraining  political  ambition, 
checking  public  corruption,  and  modifying  the  prevailing 
faults  of  society. 

Aristophanes. — The  oldest  comedies  extant  are  those  of 
Aristophanes,  a  citizen  of  Athens  by  birth  or  adoption,  born 
about  the  middle  of  the  fifth  century  B.C.  If  he  was  an 
adopted  son,  Athens  had  good  reason  to  be  proud  of  her  pro- 
te'ge'.  His  society  was  sought  by  the  learned  and  great.  He 
became  the  idol  of  the  people,  who  fined  such  as  brought  libel- 


214  GRECIAN   LITERATURE. 

suits  against  him,  and  voted  him  an  olive  crown  for  exposing 
the  misconduct  of  their  rulers. 

Nor  was  his  fame  confined  to  Athens.  All  Greece,  and 
Sicily  too,  laughed  at  his  humorous  sallies.  The  Persian  king 
enjoyed  his  pungent  satires,  and  regarded  him  as  such  a  pow- 
er in  Greece  that  when  Spartan  ambassadors  sought  an  alli- 
ance with  Persia  against  their  Athenian  rivals,  the  king  asked 
on  which  side  the  comic  poet  was  arrayed ;  for,  said  he,  "  the 
party  whose  cause  Aristophanes  espouses  will  certainly  win." 

Aristophanes  was  loyal  to  the  true  interests  of  his  country, 
and  declined  the  flattering  invitations  of  Dionysius  to  dwell 
in  ease  at  Syracuse  with  the  luminaries  of  his  age.  He  longed 
for  the  glorious  Athens  of  the  past,  and  attacked  whatever 
conflicted  with  his  conservative  ideas.  None  escaped  his 
well-aimed  shafts.  He  was  specially  severe  on  the  Sophists, 
a  new  class  of  teachers  at  Athens,  whose  forte  lay  in  chopping 
logic  and  splitting  hairs,  and  who  taught  the  tricks  of  rhetoric 
rather  than  practical  morality.  In  his  "  Clouds  "  he  derides 
their  sharp  practices  and  unsound  system  of  education,  striking 
them  over  the  head  of  Socrates,  the  exponent  of  true  philoso- 
phy, whose  life  was  devoted  to  combating  the  false  teachings 
of  these  very  pretenders. 

That  Socrates  was  merely  the  scape-goat  is  plain,  for  he  and 
Aristophanes  were  intimate  friends.  When  the  play  was  first 
exhibited,  the  philosopher,  who  was  in  the  audience,  took  it 
all  in  good  part,  and  even  rose  that  the  people  might  compare 
him  with  the  caricature  presented,  which  exaggerated  his  ec- 
centricities of  dress  and  figure — his  pug-nose,  thick  lips,  shabby 
garments,  and  absent-minded  stare.  The  chorus  of  changing 
clouds  symbolized  the  meretricious  charms  of  sophistry. 

"  THE  CLOUDS  "  opens  in  the  sleeping-apartment  of  Strep- 
si'ades,  an  Athenian  citizen,  his  son  Pheiclippides  occupying 
a  pallet  near  him.  The  slaves  of  the  household  are  abed  in 
an  adjoining  room.  Strepsiades,  oppressed  by  debt  incurred 


ARISTOPHANES.  "215 

through  the  extravagance  of  his  "  precious  son,"  a  fast  young 
man  addicted  to  fast  horses,  is  disturbed  by  the  recollection 
of  numerous  outstanding  bills  and  notes  about  to  mature. 
He  wakes  before  daylight  and  calls  a  slave : — 

"  Boy !  light  a  lamp ; 

Bring  me  my  pocket-book,  that  I  may  see 

How  my  accounts  stand,  and  just  cast  them  up.  [Slave  oteys.~] 

Let's  see  now.     First,  here's  Prasias,  fifty  pounds. 
Now,  what's  that  for?     When  did  I  borrow  that? 
Ah!  when  I  bought  that  gray.     O  dear!  O  dear! 
I  shall  grow  gray  enough,  if  this  goes  on. 

PHEIDIPPIDES  [talking  in  his  sleep], — That's  not  fair, 
Philo !     Keep  your  own  side  of  the  course ! 

STREPSIADES. — Ay,  there  he  goes !  that's  -what  is  ruining  me ; 
He's  always  racing,  even  in  his  dreams. 

PHEIDIPPIDES  [au-aking~\. — Good  heavens!  my  dear  father, 
What  makes  you  groan  and  toss  so  all  night  long  ? 

STREPSIADES. — There's  a  sheriff's  officer  at  me — in  the  bedclothes. 

PHEIDIPPIDES. — Lie  quiet,  sir,  do  pray,  and  let  me  sleep. 

STREPSIADES. — Sleep,  if  you  like ;  but  these  debts,  I  can  tell  you, 
Will  fall  on  your  own  head  some  day,  young  man. 
Hough !  may  those  match-makers  come  to  an  evil  end 
Who  drew  me  into  marrying  your  good  mother! 
There  I  was,  living  a  quiet  life  in  the  country, — 
Shaved  once  a  week,  maybe,  wore  my  old  clothes — 
Full  of  my  sheep,  and  goats,  and  bees,  and  vineyards, 
And  I  must  marry  the  tine  niece  of  Megacles. 
Many  a  fine  town-belle,  all  airs  and  graces! 
A  pretty  pair  we  were  to  come  together — 
I  smelling  of  the  vineyard  and  sheep-shearing, 
She  with  her  scents,  and  essences,  and  cosmetics, 
And  all  the  deviltries  of  modern  fashion. 
Not  a  bad  housekeeper  though,  I  will  say  that — 

SLAVE  [examining  the  lamp,  which  is  going  oi/f].-^This  lamp  has  got 
no  oil  in  it. 

STREPSIADES. —  Deuce  take  you, 

Why  did  you  light  that  thirsty  beast  of  a  lamp? 
Come  here,  and  you  shall  catch  it. 

SLAVE.—  Catch  it — why  ? 

STREPSIADES  [boxes  his  cars]. — For  putting  such  a  thick  wick  in. 

to  be  sure. 

Well,  in  due  time,  this  boy  of  ours  was  born 
To  me  and  my  grand  lady.     First  of  all, 
We  got  to  loggerheads  about  his  name; 
She  would  have  something  that  had  got  a  horse  in  it — 


216  GRECIAN   LITERATURE. 

Xanthippus — or  Charippus — or  Pliilippides  ; 

I  was  for  his  grandfather's  name — Pheidouides.* 

Well,  for  some  time  we  squabbled  ;  then  at  last 

We  came  to  a  compromise  upon  Pheid-ippides. 

This  boy — she'd  take  him  in  her  lap  and  fondle  him, 

Aud  say,  'Ah!  when  it  grows  up  to  be  a  man, 

It  shall  drive  horses,  like  its  uncle  Megacles, 

And  wear  a  red  cloak,  it  shall.'     Then  I  would  say, 

'  He  shall  wear  a  good  sheep-skin  coat,  like  his  own  father, 

And  drive  his  goats  to  market  from  the  farm.'" 

Strepsiades  finally  bethinks  him  of  a  plan  for  paying  his 
debts.  He  will  have  his  son  trained  by  the  Sophists ;  and 
when  the  creditors  bring  the  case  into  court,  Pheidippides 
shall  plead  his  cause,  and  defeat  them  with  fallacious  argu- 
ments even  in  the  face  of  a  thousand  witnesses.  Father  and 
son  at  once  arise,  dress,  and  walk  out  in  the  direction  of 
the  Sophists'  school.  Arrived  in  front  of  it,  Strepsiades  re- 
marks : — 

"  That's  the  great  Thinking-school  of  our  new  philosophers  ; 
There  live  the  men  who  teach  that  heaven  around  us 
Is  a  vast  oven,  and  we  the  charcoal  in  it. 
And  they  teach  too — for  a  consideration,  mind — 
To  plead  a  cause  aud  win  it,  right  or  wrong. 

PHEIDIPPIDES  [carelessly]. — Who  are  these  fellows  ? 

STREPSIADES. —  I  don't  quite  remember 

The  name  they  call  themselves,  it's  such  a  long  one ; 
Very  hard  thinkers — but  they're  first-rate  men. 

PHEIDIPPIDES. — Faugh!  vulgar  fellows — I  know  'em. 
Dirty  vagabonds, 
Like  Socrates  there  and  Chserephon  :  a  low  set. 

STREPSIADES. — Pray  hold  your  tongue — don't  show  your  igno« 

ranee, 

But,  if  you  care  at  all  for  your  old  father, 
Be  one  of  them  ;  now  do,  and  cut  the  tnrf. 

PHEIDIPPIDES. — Not  I,  by  Bacchus !  not  if  you  would  give  me 
That  team  of  Arabs  which  Leogoras  drives. 

STREPSIADES. — Do,  my  dear  boy,  I  beg  you — go  and  be  taught. 

PHEIDIPPIDES. — What  shall  I  learn  there  ? 

STREPSIADES. — Learn  ?     Why,  they  do  say 
That  these  men  have  the  secret  of  both  Arguments, 
The  honest  Argument  (if  there  be  such  a  thing)  and  the  other; 


:  Hippos  means  a  horse  in  Greek;  pheidon,  economical. 


ARISTOPHANES.  217 

Now  this  last — this  false  Argument,  yon  understand — . 

Will  make  the  veriest  rascal  win  his  cause. 

So  if  you'll  go  and  learn  for  us  this  glorious  art, 

The  debts  I  owe  for  you  will  all  be  cleared; 

For  I  shan't  pay  a  single  man  a  farthing. 

PHEIDIPPIDES. — No — I  can't  do  it.     Studying  hard,  you  see, 
Spoils  the  complexion.     How  could  I  show  my  face 
Among  the  knights,  looking  a  beast,  like  those  fellows  ? 

STKEPSIADES. — Then,  sir,  henceforth  I  swear,  so  help  me  Ceres, 
I  won't  maintain  you — you,  nor  your  bays,  nor  your  chestnuts. 
Go  to  the  dogs — or  anywhere — out  of  my  house!" 

Failing  to  induce  his  son  to  enter  the  Thinking-school, 
Strepsiades  resolves  himself  to  master  the  fashionable  Argu- 
ment that  "pays  no  bills;"  he  has  an  interview  with  Socrates, 
and  is  introduced  to  the  Clouds,  the  new  goddesses  of  this 
misty  philosophy. 

One  of  the  most  beautiful  passages  of  the  play — having  the 
ring  of  the  true  metal — is  the  chorus  of  Clouds  responding  to 
the  call  of  Socrates — first,  behind  the  scenes,  in  the  distance  ; 
then  nearer ;  then  rising  from  the  lips  of  twenty-four  gauze- 
clad  nymphs,  who  descend  upon  the  stage  as  personifications 
of  the  ethereal  deities. 

CHORUS  OF  CLOUDS  (in  the  distance). 

"  Eternal  clouds ! 

Rise  we  to  mortal  view, 
Embodied  in  bright  shapes  of  dewy  sheen, 

Leaving  the  depths  serene 

Where  our  loud-sounding  Father  Ocean  dwells, 
For  the  wood-crowned  summits  of  the  hills : 

Thence  shall  our  glance  command 
The  beetling  crags  which  sentinel  the  land, 

The  teeming  earth, 

The  crops  we  bring  to  birth ; 
Thence  shall  we  hear 
The  music- of  the  ever-flowing  streams, 
The  low  deep  thunders  of  the  booming  sea. 

Lo,  the  bright  Eye  of  Day  unwearied  beams ! 

Shedding  our  veil  of  storms 

From  our  immortal  forms, 
We  scan  with  keen-eyed  gaze  this  nether  sphere." 


218  GRECIAN    LITERATURE. 

CHORUS  OF  CLOUDS  (nearer). 

"  Sisters  who  bring  the  showers, 

Let  us  arise  and  greet 

This  glorious  laud,  for  Pallas'  dwelling  meet, 
Rich  iu  brave  men,  beloved  of  Cecrops  old ; 

Where  Faith  aud  Reverence  reigu, 

Where  comes  no  foot  profane, 
When  for  the  mystic  rites  the  Holy  Doors  unfold. 

There  gifts  are  duly  paid 

To  the  great  gods,  and  pious  prayers  are  said ; 
Tall  temples  rise,  and  statues  heavenly  fair. 

There  at  each  holy  tide, 

With  coronals  and  song, 
The  glad  processions  to  the  altars  throng ; 

There  in  the  jocund  spring, 

Great  Bacchus,  festive  king, 
With  dance  aud  tuneful  flute  his  Chorus  leads  along." 

W.  L.  COLLINS. 

But  though  the  Clouds  assist  Socrates  in  teaching  Strepsia« 
des,  the  pupil  proves  an  utter  dunce.  Finally,  in  a  moment 
of  impatience,  Socrates  kicks  him  out  of  the  school. 

At  last  Pheiclippides  is  prevailed  upon  to  study  with  the 
Sophists.  He  proves  an  apt  scholar,  rapidly  developing  into 
an  unprincipled  scamp.  When  his  education  as  a  sharper  is 
completed,  he  brings  to  bear  his  specious  arguments  against 
the  creditors,  and  cheats  them  out  of  their  dues.  So  far,  so 
good ;  but  his  notions  of  filial  duty  have  also  been  greatly 
modified  by  the  instructions  of  Socrates.  A  quarrel  arising 
in  the  family,  he  hesitates  not  to  fall  upon  his  father  with  a 
cudgel,  and  threatens  to  do  the  same  by  his  mother  if  she 
provokes  him. 

With  a  curse  upon  Socrates,  the  outraged  old  gentleman 
calls  his  slaves,  hurries  to  the  Thinking-school,  and  sets  fire 
to  the  building.  Thus  the  play  ends. 

Beneath  the  pleasantry  of  Aristophanes  is  a  substratum  of 
solid  sense  ;  as  is  apparent  in  "the  Birds,"  an  ingenious  play 
in  which  the  woodland  songsters  take  characters.  It  was  pro- 


ARISTOPHANES.  2  1  9 

duced  at  a  time  when  the  Athenians,  puffed  up  with  vanity, 
confidently  looked  for  the  reduction  of  Sicily  and  the  domin- 
ion of  Greece.  Aristophanes  alone,  at  this  critical  period, 
ventured  to  raise  the  note  of  warning,  and  satirize  their  fool- 
ish ambition.  The  choruses  in  this  drama  ring  with  the  sweet 
music  of  the  wild  woods  ;  they  were  rendered  by  twenty-four 
performers  plumed  so  as  to  represent  as  many  different  kinds 
of  birds.  The  Hoopoe  thus  calls  his  fellows  to  a  mass-meet- 
ing:— 

"  Hoop !  hoop ! 
Come  in  a  troop, 
Come  at  a  call 
One  and  all, 
Birds  of  a  feather, 
All  together. 

Birds  of  an  humble  gentle  bill 
Smooth  and  shrill, 
Djeted  on  seeds  and  grain, 
Rioting  on  the  furrowed  plain, 
Pecking,  hopping, 
Picking,  popping, 
Among  the  barley  newly  sown. 
Birds  of  bolder,  louder  tone, 
Lodging  in  the  shnibs  and  buslic ?, 
Mavises  and  Thrushes. 
On  the  summer  berries  browsing, 
Ou  the  garden  fruits  carousing, 
All  the  grubs  and  vermin  smouzing. 

Yon  that  in  an  humbler  station, 
With  an  active  occupation, 
Haunt  the  lowly  watery  mead, 
Warring  against  the  native  breed, 
The  gnats  and  flies,  your  enemies ; 
In  the  level  marshy  plain 
Of  Marathon  pursued  and  slain. 

Yon  that  in  a  squadron  driving 
From  the  seas  are  seen  arriving, 
With  the  Cormorants  and  Mews, 
Haste  to  land  and  hear  the  news! 

All  the  feathered  airy  nation, 
Birds  of  every  size  and  station, 
Are  convened  in  convocation. 


220  GRECIAN   LITERATURE. 

For  an  envoy,  queer  and  shrewd, 

Means  to  address  the  multitude, 
And  submit  to  their  decision 
A  surprising  proposition, 
For  the  welfare  of  the  state. 

Come  in  a  flurry, 

With  a  hurry,  scurry, 
Hurry  to  the  meeting  and  attend  to  the  debate." 

FKERE. 

STYLE  OF  ARISTOPHANES. — In  weighing  the  merits  of  Aris- 
tophanes, it  must  be  remembered  that  many  of  his  peculiar 
beauties  cannot  be  translated,  and  that  we  lose  his  local  hits 
from  our  inability  to  see  things  from  an  Athenian  standpoint. 
He  is  often  indelicate  in  his  allusions ;  he  is  as  ready  with 
town  slang  and  the  cant  of  the  shop  as  with  the  most  elegant 
phrase.  But  Attic  salt  seasons  the  whole,  and  none  ever  han- 
dled the  versatile  Greek  tongue  more  deftly.  In  his  command 
of  language,  he  is  equalled  only  by  Plato,  who  felt  the  comic 
poet's  power  when  he  said  that  in  the  soul  of  Aristophanes 
the  Graces  sought  an  imperishable  shrine.  Amid  all  his 
humor  and  buffoonery  sparkles  genius  of  the  highest  order. 
His  aim  seems  to  have  been  to  elevate  his  art.  Some  of  the 
improvements  he  claimed  to  have  introduced,  are  thus  set 
forth  in  an  address  which  he  puts  into  the  mouth  of  the 
leader  of  the  chorus  in  his  "  Peace  :" — 

"  It  was  he  that  indignantly  swept  from  the  stage  the  paltry  ignoble 

device 
Of  a  Hercules  needy  and  seedy  and  greedy,  a  vagabond  sturdy  and 

stout, 
Now  baking  his  bread,  now  swindling  instead,  now  beaten  and 

battered  about. 
And  freedom  he  gave  to  the  lacrimose  slave  who  was  wont  with  a 

howl  to  rush  in, 
And  all  for  the  sake  of  a  joke  which  they  make  on  the  wounds 

which  disfigure  his  skin. 
Such  vulgar  contemptible  lumber  at  once  he  bade  from  the  drama 

depart, 
And  then,  like  an  edifice  stately  and  grand,  he  raised  and  ennobled 

the  art."  THOROLD  EOGEUS. 


COMEDIES    OF    ARISTOPHANES. 


221 


Aristophanes  outlived  the  license  of  the  old  comedy,  which 
died  with  liberty.  When  in  404  B.C.  the  popular  government 
was  overthrown,  and  Thirty  Tyrants,  supported  by  Sparta, 
lorded  it  over  Athens,  a  statute  was  passed  making  personal 
attacks  on  the  stage  capital  offences ;  an  actor  who  defied  the 
law  was  actually  starved  to  death.  Thenceforth  the  comic 
poet  dared  not  individualize  the  object  of  his  satire  ;  he  tilted 
against  vice  and  folly  in  general,  or  thrust  at  his  intended 
victims  indirectly  under  assumed  names. 

Aristophanes  died  about  380  B.C.  No  other  comic  poet 
could  vie  with  him  during  his  lifetime ;  none  worthy  to  be  his 
successor  arose  after  his  death,  for  "  Nature  broke  the  mould 
in  which  he  was  cast."  Of  fifty-four  comedies  from  his  pen, 
eleven  remain  entire. 


THE  ACHARNIANS 425  B.C. 

THE  KNIGHTS 424    " 

THE  CLOUDS 423    " 

THE  WASPS 422    " 

The  persons  constituting  the 
chorus  were  girt  in  tightly 
about  the  waist,  to  make 
them  as  wasp-like  as  possi- 
ble in  appearance ;  skewers 
did  service  as  stings. 

PEACE 421    " 

THE  BIRDS 414    " 

LYSISTRATA 411    " 

THE    WOMEN    CELEBRATING 

THE  FEAST  OF  CERES..  411    " 
Ridicule  of  Euripides  is  the 
staple  of  this  play. 


THE  FROGS 405  B.C. 

Here  again  Euripides  is  the 
butt.  The  chorus  was  made 
up  to  represent  frogs,  whose 
croakings  were  imitated. 

THE  WOMEN  MET  IN  ASSEM- 
BLY  392    " 

Certain  strong-minded  fe- 
male communists,  advocates 
of  women's  rights,  seize  on 
the  government  and  under- 
take the  reformation  of  pub- 
lic abuses.  This  play  con- 
tains the  longest  word  known, 
made  up  of  77  syllables  and 
1G9  letters. 

PLUTUS...  ..  388    " 


IIISTOEY. 


During  this  halcyon  age  of  Greek  poetry,  prose  also  was 
cultivated,  and  in  the  century  following  the  Persian  Wars  it 
was  brought  to  maturity.  After  the  victories  that  secured  her 
freedom,  Greece  felt  the  need  of  a  national  historian  to  record 


2'22  GRECIAN   LITERATURE. 

the  story  of  her  struggles  and  triumphs.  The  earliest  narra- 
tors, as  has  been  shown,  confined  themselves  to  mythology 
and  tradition  :  the  times  now  demanded  an  artist  who  could 
paint  with  faithful  pencil  on  living  canvas  those  scenes  that 
were  the  glory  of  Hellas — and  in  Herodotus  of  Halicarnas- 
sus  that  artist  appeared. 

Herodotus  (born  484  B.C.). — Halicarnassus  was  the  capital 
of  a  Dorian  confederacy  of  states  in  southern  Asia  Minor. 
Its  queen  Artemisia  supported  Xerxes  in  his  quarrel  with 
Greece ;  and  although  the  Athenians,  provoked  that  a  woman 
should  take  the  field  against  them,  offered  an  immense  reward 
for  her  capture,  she  escaped  the  perils  of  war,  and  carried 
her  kingdom  safely  through  the  political  troubles  of  the  time. 

The  parents  of  Herodotus  were  persons  of  rank  and  prop- 
erty. His  writings  prove  him  to  have  been  well  read  in  the 
literature  of  his  country.  Though  not  an  Ionian  born,  he 
adopted  the  Ionic  dialect — the  dress  in  which  Greek  prose 
first  appeared. 

Herodotus  spent  the  best  twenty  years  of  his  life  in  travel- 
ling over  the  greater  part  of  the  known  world,  studying  the 
history,  geography,  and  customs  of  the  countries  he  visited. 
Thebes  and  Memphis,  Tyre  and  Jerusalem,  Babylon  and  Ec- 
bat'ana — with  all  he  made  personal  acquaintance,  extending 
his  tour  as  far  west  as  the  Greek  settlements  in  Italy,  and  as 
far  south  as  the  first  cataract  of  the  Nile. 

The  marvellousness  of  the  stories  he  collected  brought  down 
upon  Herodotus  the  ridicule  of  his  fellow-citizens ;  so  quitting 
Halicarnassus  when  about  thirty-seven  years  of  age,  he  settled 
at  Athens.  Here,  it  is  related,  he  read  his  history,  still  in  the 
rough,  to  the  admiring  people,  who  voted  him  a  handsome 
reward.  Here  also  he  seems  to  have  become  intimate  with 
Sophocles  and  his  great  contemporaries ;  and  here,  perhaps, 
his  ambition  was  kindled  to  add  another  star  to  the  galaxy 
that  made  Athens  the  glory  of  the  world. 


HERODOTUS.  223 

Not  long,  however,  did  Herodotus  remain  at  the  capital. 
As  one  of  a  band  of  colonists  sent  out  by  Pericles  in  443  B.C., 
he  crossed  to  Italy,  and  aided  in  founding  the  town  of  Thurii, 
near  the  ruins  of  Syb'aris  (see  Map,  p.  304).  At  Thurii  he 
spent  his  last  years  in  revising,  enlarging,  and  polishing  his 
history;  yet  we  are  not  to  believe  that  he  ceased  to  indulge 
his  passion  for  travelling  when  Sicily  and  southern  Italy  lay 
so  invitingly  before  him.  He  died  at  the  age  of  sixty,  leav- 
ing the  great  work  of  his  life  unfinished. 

The  main  subject  of  our  author's  work  is  the  Graeco-Persian 
War  and  the  triumph  of  his  country.  His  narrative  is  from 
time  to  time  relieved  by  delightful  episodes.  Indeed,  we  owe 
to  him  not  a  few  of  those  romantic  tales  that  invest  ancient 
history  with  its  peculiar  charm ;  while  modern  research  has 
verified  many  of  the  wonder-stories  that  provoked  the  derision 
of  his  countrymen.  Nor  do  his  digressions  mar  the  unity  of 
his  history,  which  is  planned  and  developed  as  skilfully  as  a 
drama  of  Sophocles. 

The  style  of  Herodotus  is  poetical,  clear,  familiar,  fascinat- 
ing, and  marked  by  a  pleasing  variety.  "  His  animation,"  says 
Macaulay,  "his  simple-hearted  tenderness,  his  wonderful  talent 
for  description  and  dialogue,  and  the  pure  sweet  flow  of  his 
language,  place  him  at  the  head  of  narrators."  His  history  is 
the  first  work  of  its  kind  that  has  descended  to  us  entire. 
It  is  divided  into  nine  books,  said  to  have  been  read  by  the 
author  at  the  Olympic  Games,  and  there  to  have  received  the 
names  of  the  Nine  Muses,  which  they  still  bear.*  Certainly 
no  names  could  have  been  more  appropriately  connected 
with  a  work  that  has  entitled  its  author  to  be  called  through 
all  time  "  the  Father  of  History." — Extracts  follow  : — 


*  An  epigram  of  later  date  thus  accounted  for  their  names : — 

"  The  Muses  to  Herodotus  one  day  came,  nine  of  them,  and  dined ; 
And  in  return,  their  host  to  pay,  left  each  a  book  behind." 


224  GRECIAN    LITERATURE. 


XEKXES  AND  THE  PILOT. 

"  It  is  said  tbat  Xerxes,  leaving  Atheiis,  came  to  a  city  called  E'ion, 
out  the  banks  of  the  Stry'mou.  Hence  lie  proceeded  110  farther  by 
laud,  but,  intrusting  the  conduct  of  his  forces  to  Hydarnes,  with  or- 
ders to  march  them  to  the  Hellespont,  he  went  on  board  a  Phoenician 
vessel  to  cross  over  into  Asia.  After  he  had  embarked,  a  heavy  and 
tempestuous  wind  set  in  from  the  lake;  which,  on  account  of  the  great 
number  of  Persians  on  board,  attendant  upon  Xerxes,  made  the  situ- 
ation of  the  vessel  extremely  dangerous.  The  king,  in  a  transport  of 
terror,  inquired  aloud  of  the  pilot  if  he  thought  they  were  safe. 

'  By  no  means,'  was  the  answer, '  unless  we  could  be  rid  of  some  of 
this  multitude.' 

Upon  this  Xerxes  exclaimed,  '  Persians,  let  me  now  see  which  of 
you  loves  his  prince;  my  safety,  it  seems,  depends  on  you.' 

As  soon  as  he  had  spoken,  they  first  bowed  themselves  before  him, 
.and  then  leaped  into  the  sea.  The  vessel  being  thus  lightened, 
Xerxes  was  safely  landed  in  Asia.  As  soon  as  he  got  on  shore,  he  re- 
warded the  pilot  with  .a  golden  crown  for  preserving  the  life  of  the 
king ;  but,  as  he  had  caused  so  many  Persians  to  perish,  he  cut  off 
his  head." — BELOE. 


ANECDOTE  OF  QUEEN  NITOCEIS. 

"Nitocris  had  her  tomb  constructed  in  the  upper  part  of  one  of  the 
principal  gateways  of  the  city,  high  above  the  heads  of  the  passers- 
by,  with  this  inscription  cut  upon  it: — 'If  there  be  one  among  my 
successors  on  the  throne  of  Babylon  who  is  in  want  of  treasure,  let 
him  open  my  tomb,  and  take  as  much  as  he  chooses  ;  not,  however, 
unless  he  be  truly  in  want,  for  it  will  not  be  for  his  good.' 

This  tomb  continued  untouched  until  Darius  came  to  the  kingdom. 
To  him  it  seemed  a  monstrous  thing  that  he  should  be  unable  to  use 
one  of  the  gates  of  the  town,  and  that  a  sum  of  money  should  belying 
idle,  and  moreover  inviting  his  grasp,  and  he  not  seize  upon  it.  Now 
he  could  not  use  the  gate,  because,  as  he  drove  through,  the  dead 
body  would  have  been  over  his  head. 

Accordingly,  he  opened  the  tomb ;  but,  instead  of  money,  found 
only  the  dead  body,  and  a  writing  which  said : — '  Hadst  thou  not 
been  insatiate  of  pelf,  and  careless  how  thou  gottest  it,  thou  wouldst 
not  have  broken  open  the  sepulchres  of  the  dead.' " 


CUSTOMS  OF  THE  BABYLONIANS. 

"  Of  their  customs,  whereof  I  shall  now  proceed  to  give  an  account, 
the  following  is  in  my  judgment  the  wisest.  Once  a  year,  in  each 
village,  the  maidens  of  age  to  marry  were  collected  all  together  into 


EXTRACT  FROM  HERODOTUS.  225 

one  place  ;  while  the  men  stood  round  them  in  a  circle.  Then  a  her- 
ald called  up  the  damsels  one  by  one,  and  offered  them  for  sale.  He 
began  with  the  most  beautiful.  When  she  was  sold  for  no  small  sum 
of  money,  he  offered  for  sale  the  one  who  came  next  to  her  in  beauty. 
All  of  them  were  sold  to  be  wives. 

The  richest  of  the  Babylonians  who  wished  to  wed,  bid  against 
each  other  for  the  loveliest  maidens ;  while  the  humbler  wife-seek- 
ers, who  were  iudift'ereut  about  beauty,  took  the  more  homely  dam- 
sels with  marriage  -  portions.  For  the  custom  was  that  when  the 
herald  had  gone  through  the  whole  number  of  the  beautiful  damsels, 
he  should  then  call  up  the  ugliest — a  cripple,  if  there  chanced  to  be 
one — and  offer  her  to  the  men,  askiug  who  would  agree  to  take  her 
with  the  smallest  marriage-portion.  And  the  man  who  offered  to 
take  the  smallest  sum,  had  her  assigned  to  him.  The  marriage-por- 
tions were  furnished  by  the  money  paid  for  the  beautiful  damsels, 
and  thus  the  fairer  maidens  portioned  out  the  uglier. 

No  oue  was  allowed  to  give  his  daughter  iu  marriage  to  the  man 
of  his  choice,  nor  might  any  one  carry  away  the  damsel  whom  he 
had  purchased  without  finding  bail  really  and  truly  to  make  her  his 
wife.  All  who  liked  might  come,  even  from  distant  villages,  and 
bid  for  the  women. 

The  Babylonians  have  no  physicians;  but  when  a  man  is  ill,  they 
lay  him  in  the  public  square,  and  the  passers-by  come  up  to  him,  aud 
if  they  have  ever  had  his  disease  themselves  or  have  known  any  one 
who  has  suffered  from  it,  they  give  him  advice,  recommending  him 
to  do  whatever  they  found  good  in  their  own  case,  or  iu  the  case 
known  to  them.  And  no  oue  is  allowed  to  pass  the  sick  man  iu 
silence  without  asking  him  what  his  ailment  is." — KAWLIXSOX. 

Thucydides,  on  whom  the  mantle  of  Herodotus  descended, 
was  born  in  a  village  of  Attica  about  471  B.C.  We  may 
believe  that  he  received  a  polite  education,  and  became  pro- 
ficient in  military  science  at  an  early  age.  It  was  in  the 
prime  of  manhood,  if  the  oft-repeated  story  is  to  be  credited, 
that  the  history  of  Herodotus,  read  before  an  assembled 
throng,  brought  tears  to  his  eyes  and  fired  him  with  a  desire 
to  emulate  its  distinguished  author.  Greece  was  then  on  the 
eve  of  the  Peloponnesian  War,  in  which  the  rival  states  Ath- 
ens and  Sparta  figured  as  chief  actors.  Thucydides  antici- 
pated the  impending  storm,  and  discerned  his  opportunity; 
this  war  should  be  his  subject,  and  even  before  it  began  he 
was  busy  collecting  preliminary  information. 

K 


226  GRECIAN   LITERATURE. 

Nor  did  he  serve  his  country  merely  in  the  capacity  of  his- 
torian. He  engaged  actively  in  the  contest,  and  received  as 
his  reward  the  command  of  an  Athenian  squadron.  But  he 
committed  an  unpardonable  sin  by  failing  to  save  a  town, 
which  surrendered  to  the  Spartans  before  he  could  arrive 
with  assistance.  Instigated  by  Cleon,  his  countrymen  de- 
prived him  of  his  position  and  cast  him  forth  an  exile. 

Thucydides  retired  to  Thrace,  where  he  had  a  valuable  in- 
terest in  certain  gold-mines,  and  there  devoted  himself  to  the 
preparation  of  his  history,  narrowly  watching  the  progress  of 
events  and  gathering  intelligence  with  the  utmost  care.  His 
exile  of  twenty  years  was  indeed  "  the  Muses'  blessing ;"  it 
enabled  him  to  pursue  his  studies  without  interruption.  Long 
after  his  death,  the  plane-tree  in  whose  shadow  he  was  accus- 
tomed to  compose,  was  pointed  out  to  travellers. 

Thucydides  traced  the  Peloponnesian  War  to  the  middle 
of  its  twenty-first  year  (411  B.C.),  leaving  it  to  be  finished  by 
another.  Why  he  did  not  complete  it  himself,  being  in  pos- 
session of  the  necessary  materials,  does  not  appear.  After 
the  Athenian  power  was  broken  by  Sparta  (404  B.C.),  the 
decree  of  banishment  was  revoked  ;  but  whether  Thucydides 
ever  returned  to  Athens  is  a  matter  of  doubt.  According  to 
one  account,  he  went  back  to  fall  the  victim  of  a  conspiracy ; 
from  another  we  are  led  to  infer  that  he  died  a  natural  death 
in  Thrace  about  391  B.C. 

The  "History  of  the  Peloponnesian  War"  is  remarkable 
for  its  accuracy  and  impartiality.  Truth  was  the  great  object 
of  its  author,  who,  dispassionate  and  unprejudiced,  ignores 
the  ingratitude  of  his  country,  betrays  no  resentment  even 
when  he  speaks  of  Cleon,  and  does  full  justice  to  his  Spartan 
foes.  He  intended  his  work  to  be  an  authority,  "a  possession 
for  everlasting."  In  it  we  find  the  first  attempts  to  treat 
the  philosophy  of  history,  to  trace  events  to  their  ultimate 
causes,  and  deduce  from  the  past  lessons  for  the  future.  His 


,  THUCYDIDES.  227 

style  is  nervous,  concise,  stately,  and  even  rises  to  the  sub- 
lime ;  but  lacks  harmony,  and  is  sometimes  obscure.  About 
one  fourth  of  his  work  is  composed  of  speeches,  which  in- 
deed make  an  agreeable  variety,  but  are  often  involved,  and 
in  parts  all  but  unintelligible.  Antithesis  is  a  frequent  figure. 
Despite  its  faults,  the  history  of  Thucydides  has  always 
been  a  favorite.  Charles  V.  was  never  without  a  copy  when 
on  a  campaign,  and  the  philosopher  Hobbes  declared  that 
he  valued  its  eight  books  above  all  the  rest  of  Greek  histor- 
ical literature.  The  extract  selected  is  a  description  of  the 
plague  which  broke  out  at  Athens  in  the  year  430,  while  the 
Lacedaemonians  were  ravaging  Attica,  and  which  the  histo- 
rian contracted  himself,  but  fortunately  survived. 

THE  PLAGUE  AT  ATHENS. 

"While  the  nature  of  this  distemper  was  snch  as  to  baffle  all  de- 
scription, and  its  attacks  were  almost  too  grievous  for  human  nature 
to  endure,  it  was  still  in  the  following  circumstance  that  its  differ- 
ence from  all  ordinary  disorders  was  most  clearly  shown.  All  the 
birds  and  beasts  that  prey  upon  human  bodies  either  abstained  from 
touching  them  (though  there  were  many  lying  unburied),  or  died 
after  tasting  them.  In  proof  of  this,  it  was  noticed  that  birds  of 
this  kind  actually  disappeared;  they  were  not  about  the  bodies,  or 
indeed  to  be  seen  at  all.  But  of  course  the  effects  which  I  have 
mentioned  could  best  be  studied  in  a  domestic  animal  like  the  dog. 

Meanwhile  the  town  enjoyed  an  immunity  from  all  the  ordinary 
disorders:  or,  if  any  case  occurred,  it  ended  in  this.  Some  died  of 
neglect,  others  in  the  midst  of  every  attention.  No  remedy  was 
found  that  could  be  used  as  a  specific  ;  for  what  did  good  in  one 
case,  did  harm  in  another.  Strong  and  weak  constitutions  proved 
equally  incapable  of  resistance,  all  alike  being  swept  away,  although 
dieted  with  the  utmost  precaution. 

By  far  the  most  terrible  feature  in  the  malady  was  the  dejection 
which  ensued  when  they  felt  themselves  sickening ;  for  the  despair 
into  which  they  instantly  fell  took  away  tlieir  power  of  resistance, 
and  left  them  a  much  easier  prey  to  the  disorder.  Besides  which, 
there  was  the  awful  spectacle  of  men  dying  like  sheep,  through 
having  caught  the  infection  in  nursing  each  other.  This  caused  the 
greatest  mortality.  On  the  one  hand,  if  they  were  afraid  to  visit 
each  other,  they  perished  from  neglect :  indeed,  many  houses  were 
emptied  of  their  inmates  for  want  of  a  nurse  :  on  the  other  hand,  if 
they  ventured  to  do  so,  death  was  the  consequence. 


228  GRECIAN   LITERATURE. 

This  was  especially  the  case  •with  such  as  made  any  pretensions 
to  goodness :  a  sense  of  honor  prevented  them  from  sparing  them- 
selves in  their  attendance  at  their  friends'  houses,  where  even  the 
members  of  the  family  were  at  last  worn  out  by  the  moans  of  the 
dying,  and  succumbed  to  the  force  of  the  disaster.  Yet  it  was  with 
those  who  had  recovered  from  the  disease  that  the  sick  found  most 
compassion.  These  knew  what  it  was  from  experience,  and  had 
now  no  fear  for  themselves ;  for  the  same  man  was  never  attacked 
a  second  time — never  at  least  fatally.  And  such  persons  not  only 
received  the  congratulations  of  others,  but  themselves  also  in  the 
elation  of  the  moment  half  entertained  the  vain  hope  that  they 
were  for  the  future  safe  from  any  disease  whatever. 

An  aggravation  of  the  existing  calamity  was  the  influx  from  the 
country  into  the  city,  and  this  was  especially  felt  by  the  new  arri- 
vals. As  there  were  no  houses  to  receive  them,  they  had  to  be 
lodged  at  the  hot  season  of  the  year  in  stifling  cabins,  where  the 
mortality  raged  without  restraint ;  bodies  lay  one  upon  another  in 
the  agonies  of  thirst,  and  half- dead  creatures  reeled  about  the 
streets  and  round  all  the  fountains  in  their  longing  for  water. 
The  sacred  places,  also,  in  which  they  had  quartered  themselves, 
were  full  of  corpses  of  persons  that  had  died  there. 

All  the  burial  rites  before  in  use  were  entirely  upset,  and  they 
buried  the  bodies  as  best  they  could.  Many  from  want  of  the 
proper  appliances,  through  so  many  of  their  friends  having  died 
already,  had  recourse  to  the  most  shameless  sepultures:  sometimes 
getting  the  start  of  those  who  had  raised  a  pile,  they  threw  their 
own  dead  body  upon  the  stranger's  pile  and  ignited  it;  sometimes 
they  tossed  the  corpse,  which  they  were  carrying,  on  the  top  of  an- 
other which  was  burning,  and  so  went  off. 

Xor  was  this  the  only  form  of  lawless  extravagance  which  owed 
its  origin  to  the  plague.  Men  now  coolly  ventured  on  what  they  had 
formerly  done  in  a  corner,  and  riot  just  as  they  pleased,  seeing  the 
rapid  transitions  produced  by  persons  in  prosperity  suddenly  dying 
and  those  who  before  had  nothing  succeeding  to  their  property. 
So  they  resolved  to  spend  quickly  and  enjoy  themselves,  regarding 
their  lives  and  riches  as  alike  things  of  a  day.  Perseverance  in 
what  men  called  honor  was  popular  with  none,  it  was  so  uncertain 
whether  they  would  be  spared  to  attain  the  object ;  but  present  en- 
joyment, and  all  that  contributed  to  it,  was  laid  down  as  both  hon- 
orable and  useful.  Fear  of  gods  or  law  of  man  there  was  none  to 
restrain  them.  As  for  the  first,  they  judged  it  to  be  just  the  same 
whether  they  worshipped  the  gods  or  not,  as  they  saw  all  alike  per- 
ishing ;  and  for  the  last,  no  one  expected  to  live  to  be  brought  to 
trial  for  his  offences,  but  felt  that  a  far  severer  sentence  had  been 
already  passed  upon  them  and  hung  even  over  their  heads,  and  be- 
fore this  fell  it  was  only  reasonable  to  enjoy  life  a  little. 

Such  was  the  nature  of  the  calamity,  and  heavily  did  it  weigh  on 
the  Athenians;  death  raging  within  the  city  and  devastation  with- 


XENOPHON.  229 

out.  Among  other  things  -which  they  remembered  in  their  distress 
was,  very  naturally,  the  following  verse,  which  the  old  men  said  had 
long  ago  been  uttered : 

'  A  Dorian  war  shall  come,  and  with  it  death.' " 

RICHAKD  CRAWLEY. 

Xenophon,  who  in  his  "Hellenica"  continued  the  story  of 
the  Peloponnesian  War  left  unfinished  by  Thucydides,  and 
carried  the  history  of  Greece  as  far  as  the  battle  of  Mantine'a, 
362  B.C.,  was  born  at  Athens  shortly  after  the  middle  of  the 
fifth  century.  Of  his  early  life  we  know  nothing,  save  that  he 
was  the  friend  and  pupil  of  Socrates ;  who,  it  is  related,  pre- 
possessed with  his  intelligent  countenance,  once  stopped  him 
in  a  narrow  way  and  demanded  where  men  were  made  good 
and  honest.  Confused  by  the  unexpected  inquiry  from  so 
great  a  teacher,  the  boy  hesitated ;  whereupon,  the  philoso- 
pher exclaimed,  "  Follow  me  and  learn."  Xenophon  obeyed, 
and  became  a  faithful  student  of  his  master's  moral  and  phil- 
osophical doctrines.  Together  they  braved  the  perils  of  the 
Peloponnesian  War;  and  in  the  battle  of  De'lium  (424  B.C.), 
where  the  flower  of  Athens'  chivalry  fell,  Xenophon's  life  is 
said  to  have  been  saved  by  Socrates. 

At  the  solicitation  of  his  friend,  Proxenus  the  Boeotian, 
Xenophon  joined  as  a  volunteer  the  famous  Expedition  of 
the  Ten  Thousand,  made  in  the  interest  of  Cyrus  the  Young- 
er against  his  elder  brother  Artaxerxes,  who  occupied  the  Per- 
sian throne.  Feeling  the  necessity  of  securing  soldiers  su- 
perior in  bravery  and  discipline  to  the  barbarian  hordes 
through  which  he  must  cut  his  way  to  the  capital,  Cyrus 
supported  the  Spartans  in  the  Peloponnesian  War,  in  order 
to  secure  their  aid  in  dethroning  Artaxerxes.  Accordingly,  at 
his  summons,  about  10,000  Spartans  and  other  Greeks,  de- 
ceived at  first  as  to  the  real  object  of  .the  campaign,  flocked 
to  his  standard,  and  in  the  spring  of  401  B.C.,  with  100,000 
Eastern  troops,  entered  the  confines  of  the  Persian  Empire. 


230  GRECIAN   LITERATURE. 

On  the  plain  of  Cunaxa,  ninety  miles  from  Babylon,  the 
decisive  battle  took  place  between  the  brothers,  Artaxerxes 
having  at  his  back  an  army  of  nearly  a  million  men.  Supe- 
rior numbers,  however,  availed  little  against  the  superior  dis- 
cipline of  the  Greeks,  who  quickly  routed  the  wing  opposed 
to  them ;  but  Cyrus,  already  hailed  as  king,  imprudently 
spurred  into  the  disordered  ranks  of  the  foe,  and  was  struck 
down  while  engaged  in  a  furious  hand-to-hand  conflict  with 
Artaxerxes. 

The  fall  of  Cyrus  was  the  signal  for  his  Asiatic  troops  to 
disperse,  and  the  victors  found  themselves  deserted  in  the 
heart  of  the  enemy's  country,  more  than  1,200  miles  from 
home.  Their  generals  were  soon  after  seized  at  a  confer- 
ence and  put  to  death.  In  this  crisis,  by  the  advice  of  Xen- 
ophon,  inspired  as  he  tells  us  by  a  dream,  new  leaders  were 
chosen,  he  himself  in  the  place  of  his  friend  Proxenus,  one 
of  the  murdered  chiefs.  A  retreat  was  determined  upon  ; 
and  during  fifteen  months  of  indescribable  hardships,  he  was 
the  patient  guide,  the  sympathetic  but  vigilant  and  prudent 
commander.  At  last,  from  a  mountain  height,  the  glittering 
Euxine  broke  upon  the  view  of  the  van,  a  glad  shout  rent  the 
air — "the  Sea!  the  Sea!" — proclaiming  that  their  sufferings 
were  over,  while  officers  and  soldiers  wept  in  each  other's 
arms.  Here,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Greek  settlements,  they 
were  safe,  and  the  march  home  was  easy.  The  8,600  sur- 
vivors owed  their  lives  to  Xenophon. 

This  "  Retreat "  of  the  Greeks  is  the  subject  of  Xenophon's 
graphic  and  interesting  history  in  seven  books,  the  "Anaba- 
sis "  (inarch  up,  though  most  of  the  work  is  occupied  with 
what  happened  on  the  march  down}.  The  chaste,  simple 
style  of  the  author,  who  throughout  modestly  speaks  of  him- 
self in  the  third  person,  recommends  his  pages  to  readers 
of  every  class.  He  writes  to  the  point;  there  is  no  straining 
for  effect.  We  extract  the  passage  relating  to 


EXTRACT  FROM   XENOPHON'S   ANABASIS.  '231 

XENOPHON'S  DREAM. 

"After  the  generals  were  made  prisoners,  and  such  of  the  captains 
and  soldiers  as  had  accompanied  them  were  put  to  death,  the  Greeks 
were  in  great  perplexity,  reflecting  that  they  were  not  far  from  the 
king's  residence ;  that  there  were  around  them,  on  all  sides,  many 
hostile  nations  and  cities ;  that  no  one  would  any  longer  afford  them 
opportunities  of  purchasing  provisions  ;  that  they  were  distant  from 
Greece  not  less  than  teu  thousand  stadia ;  that  there  was  no  one  to 
guide  them  on  the  way ;  that  impassable  rivers  would  intercept  them 
in  the  midst  of  their  course ;  that  the  Babylonians  who  had  gone  up 
with  Cyrus  had  deserted  them ;  and  that  they  were  left  alone,  having 
no  cavalry  to  support  them. 

Reflecting,  I  say,  on  these  circumstances,  and  beiug  disheartened 
at  them,  few  tasted  food  that  evening,  few  kindled  tires ;  and  many 
did  not  come  to  the  place  of  arms  during  the  night,  but  lay  down  to 
sleep  where  they  severally  happened  to  be,  unable  to  sleep  for  sorrow 
and  longing  for  their  country,  their  parents,  their  wives  and  children, 
whom  they  never  expected  to  see  again.  In  this  state  of  mind  they 
all  went  to  their  resting-places. 

When  this  perplexity  occurred,  Xenophon  was  distressed  as  well 
as  the  other  Greeks,  and  unable  to  rest;  but  having  at  length  got  a 
little  sleep,  he  had  a  dream,  in  which,  in  the  midst  of  a  thunder-storm, 
a  bolt  seemed  to  him  to  fall  upon  his  father's  house,  aud  the  house  in 
consequence  became  all  in  a  blaze.  Greatly  frightened,  he  immedi- 
ately awoke,  and  considered  his  dream  as  in  one  respect  favorable, 
inasmuch  as,  being  in  troubles  and  dangers,  he  seemed  to  behold  a 
great  light  from  Jupiter ;  but  in  another  respect  he  was  alarmed,  be- 
cause the  dream  appeared  to  him  to  be  from  Jupiter,  who  was  a  king, 
aud  the  fire  to  blaze  all  around  him,  lest  he  should  be  unable  to  es- 
cape from  the  king's  territories,  but  should  be  hemmed  in  on  all  sides 
by  inextricable  difficulties. 

What  it  betokens,  however,  to  see  such  a  dream,  we  may  conjecture 
from  the  occurrences  that  happened  after  the  dream.  What  imme- 
diately followed  was  this.  As  soon  as  he  awoke,  the  thought  that 
first  occurred  to  him  was,  'Why  do  I  lie  here?  The  night  is  passing 
away.  With  daylight  it  is  probable  that  the  enemy  will  come  upon 
us;  and,  if  we  once  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  king,  what  is  there  to 
prevent  us  from  being  put  to  death  with  ignominy,  after  witnessing 
the  most  grievous  sufferings  among  our  comrades,  and  enduring  every 
severity  of  torture  ourselves  ?  Yet  no  one  concerts  measures  or  takes 
thought  for  our  defence,  but  we  lie  still,  as  if  we  were  at  liberty  to 
enjoy  repose.  From  what  city,  then,  do  I  expect  a  leader  to  under- 
take our  defence?  WThat  age  am  I  waiting  for,  to  come  to  myself? 
Assuredly  I  shall  never  be  older,  if  I  give  myself  up  to  the  enemy 
to-day.'  After  these  reflections  he  arose,  and  called  together,  in  the 
first  place,  the  captains  that  were  under  Proxenus. 

When  they  were  assembled,  he  said, '  For  my  part,  captains,  I  can- 


232  GRECIAN   LITEKATURE. 

not  sleep,  nor,  I  should  think,  can  you ;  nor  can  I  lie  still  any  longer, 
when  I  consider  in  what  circumstances  we  are  placed.  For  it  is  plain 
that  the  euemy  did  not  openly  manifest  hostility  toward  us,  until  they 
thought  tbat  they  had  judiciously  arranged  their  plans;  but  on  our 
side  no  one  takes  any  thought  how  we  may  best  maintain  a  contest 
with  them.  Yet  if  we  prove  remiss,  and  fall  into  the  power  of  the 
king,  what  may  we  not  expect  to  suffer  from  a  man  who  cut  off  the 
head  aud  hand  of  Lis  own  brother  by  the  same  mother  and  father, 
even  after  he  was  dead,  and  fixed  them  upon  a  stake  ?  What  may 
not  we,  I  say,  expect  to  suffer,  who  have  no  relative  to  take  our  part, 
and  who  have  marched  against  him  to  make  him  a  subject  instead 
of  a  monarch,  and  to  put  him  to  death  if  it  should  lie  in  our  power  ? 
Will  he  not  proceed  to  every  extremity,  that  by  reducing  us  to  the 
last  degree  of  ignominious  suffering,  he  may  inspire  all  men  with  a 
dread  of  ever  taking  the  field  against  him  ?  We  must,  therefore,  try 
every  expedient  not  to  fall  into  his  hands. 

For  myself,  I  never  ceased,  while  the  truce  lasted,  to  consider 
ourselves  as  objects  of  pity,  and  to  regard  the  king  and  his  people  as 
objects  of  envy ;  as  I  contemplated  how  extensive  and  valuable  a 
country  they  possessed,  how  great  an  abundance  of  provisions,  how 
many  slaves  and  cattle,  and  how  vast  a  quantity  of  gold  and  raiment. 
But  since  they  have  put  an  end  to  peace,  their  own  haughtiness  and 
our  mistrust  seem  likewise  to  be  brought  to  an  end ;  for  the  advan- 
tages which  I  have  mentioned  lie  now  as  prizes  between  us,  for  which- 
soever of  us  shall  prove  the  better  men.  And  the  gods  are  the  judges 
of  the  contest,  who,  as  is  just,  will  be  on  our  side ;  since  the  enemy 
have  offended  them  by  perjury,  while  we,  though  seeing  many  good 
things  to  tempt  us,  have  resolutely  abstained  from  all  of  them  through 
regard  to  our  oaths ;  so  that,  as  it  seems  to  me,  we  may  advance  to 
the  combat  with  much  greater  confidence  than  they  can  feel. 

We  have  bodies,  moreover,  better  able  than  theirs  to  endure  cold 
and  toil;  and  we  have,  with  the  help  of  the  gods,  more  resolute 
minds;  while  the  enemy,  if  the  gods,  as  before,  grant  us  success,  will 
be  found  more  obnoxious  to  wounds  and  death  than  we  are.  But 
possibly  others  of  you  entertain  the  same  thoughts ;  let  us  not  then, 
in  the  name  of  Heaven,  wait  for  others  to  come  and  exhort  us  to  noble 
deeds,  but  let  us  be  ourselves  the  first  to  excite  others  to  exert  their 
valor.  Prove  yourselves  the  bravest  of  the  captains,  and  more  worthy 
to  lead  than  those  who  are  now  leaders.  As  for  me,  if  you  wish  to 
take  the  start  in  the  course,  I  am  willing  to  follow  you  ;  or,  if  you 
appoint  me  to  be  a  leader,  I  shall  not  make  my  youth  an  excuse, 
but  shall  think  myself  sufficiently  mature  to  defend  myself  against 
harm.' " — WATSON. 

For  his  sympathy  \vith  Sparta,  and  possibly  for  sharirTg  the 
opinions  of  his  beloved  teacher  Socrates,  Xenophon  was  ban- 
ished from  Athens;  but  he  was  recompensed  by  the  Lacedae- 


XENOPHON. — CTESIAS. — TIIEOPOMPUS.  233 

monians  with  a  house  and  piece  of  land  in  E'lis.  Here,  amid 
lovely  meadows  and  woodlands,  he  built  a  temple  to  the  god- 
dess Diana  in  fulfilment  of  a  vow  he  had  made  when  encircled 
by  dangers  in  Asia.  Here,  free  from  the  cares  of  public  life, 
he  passed  many  years,  happy  in  the  society  of  his  wife,  chil- 
dren, and  friends,  dividing  his  time  among  his  farm,  his  hunt- 
ing-parks, and  his  study.  He  died  at  the  age  of  ninety. — Of 
his  two  sons,  one  fell  on  the  field  of  Mantinea,  after  dealing 
the  great  Epaminondas  his  death-blow. 

Besides  the  "Anabasis"  and  "  Hellenica,"  Xenophon  wrote 
the  "  Cy'ropaedi'a  "  (education  of  Cyrus — the  elder  Cyrus,  king 
of  Persia),  a  semi-didactic,  semi-historical  fiction,  illustrating 
a  model  system  of  education  and  setting  forth  his  ideal  of 
government — a  perfect  monarchy.  He  is  also  the  author  of 
several  works  written  in  defence  of  Socrates  or  as  expositions 
of  his  philosophy,  of  which  the  "  Memorabilia  "  (memoirs]  is 
particularly  interesting,  teeming  as  it  does  with  sayings  and 
anecdotes  of  the  sage. 

In  addition  to  his  merits  as  an  historian,  Xenophon  may 
justly  claim  the  distinction  of  having  been  the  first  essayist : 
we  have  from  his  pen  essays  on  the  Policy  of  Laeedaemon,  on 
the  Chase,  Horsemanship,  and  Cavalry  Tactics,  not  to  mention 
several  political  treatises  ascribed  to  him.  A  creditable  rep- 
resentative of  elegant  Attic  prose,  Xenophon  has  been  called 
the  Attic  Muse. 

Ctesias,  a  Greek  physician  attached  to  the  Persian  court, 
who  dressed  the  wounds  of  Artaxerxes  after  the  battle  of  Cu- 
naxa,  compiled  a  history  of  Persia  in  twenty-three  books,  a 
description  of  India,  and  a  variety  of  other  works.  Of  his 
writings,  which  were  in  the  Ionic  dialect,  little  has  survived. 

Theopompus  (probably  378-304  B.C.)  is  also  worthy  of 
mention  as  an  historian.  He  wrote  a  History  of  Greece  from 
41 1  to  394  B.C.,  and  "  Philippica,"  in  fifty-eight  books,  in  which 
he  sketched  the  character  of  Philip  of  Macedon.  Of  the  latter 

K2 


234  GRECIAN   LITEKATUKE. 

work  numerous  fragments  remain.  Ancient  critics  give  him 
credit  for  general  accuracy,  though  he  took  rather  too  rose- 
colored  views  of  his  hero  Philip  as  the  promoter  of  Grecian 
civilization. 

PHILOSOPHY. 

The  earliest  philosophical  investigations  were  made  by 
lonians,  and  THALES  of  Miletus  is  recognized  as  the  founder 
of  Greek  philosophy.  To  him  and  to  Pythagoras  the  various 
systems  may  all  be  traced. 

The  Ionic  School  of  Thales,  devoted  to  physical  science, 
rapidly  developed,  theory  after  theory  being  brought  forward 
to  explain  the  universe  and  the  nature  of  Deity.  One  philos- 
opher made  the  Supreme  Being  an  all-pervading,  divine  air ; 
another,  Heracli'tus  "the  Obscure,"  represented  God  as  a 
subtile  flame,  and  -reduced  the  universe  to  an  eternal  fire. 

A  notable  step  in  advance  was  taken  by  ANAXAGORAS  (500- 
428  B.C.),  who  succeeded  to  the  leadership  of  this  school. 
The  first  to  make  the  study  of  philosophy  fashionable  at 
Athens,  he  became  the  instructor  of  some  of  her  great  men, 
Socrates  among  the  number.  He  represented  God  as  a  divine 
mind,  acting  on  the  material  world  with  intelligence  and  de- 
sign. Well  did  Aristotle  say  that  Anaxagoras  was  like  a  sober 
man  among  stammering  drunkards,  when  compared  with  ear- 
lier philosophers.  As  an  astronomer,  he  anticipated  some  of 
the  discoveries  of  more  recent  times;  he  correctly  explained 
eclipses,  taught  that  the  sun  was  a  molten  ball,  that  from  it 
the  moon  borrowed  her  light,  that  the  lunar  surface  was  diver- 
sified with  mountains  and  valleys,  and  that  the  earth  itself 
had  been  the  scene  of  terrible  convulsions. 

The  Italic  School  had  meanwhile  been  founded  by  PYTHAG'- 
ORAS,  of  Samos,  born  about  540  B.C.  He  settled  in  Croto'na, 
a  Greek  town  of  southern  Italy,  and  there  imparted  to  his  dis- 
ciples the  philosophical  principles  which  he  had  gathered  in 
other  lands,  particularly  Egypt. 


PYTHAGORAS.  235 

Pythagoras  modestly  styled  himself  a  lover  of  wisdom  (phi- 
losopher), not  a  wise  man  (sophist).  Among  his  doctrines  were 
the  mysterious  theory  that  number  is  the  first  principle  of  all 
things,  the  transmigration  of  souls,  and  a  system  of  future  re- 
wards and  punishments.  He  forestalled  Copernicus  in  his 
discovery  of  the  true  theory  of  the  solar  system  —  that  the 
sun,  and  not  the  earth,  as  was  then  believed,  is  its  centre ;  he 
taught  that  the  moon  was  inhabited ;  and  described  the  heav- 
enly bodies  as  producing  harmonious  tones  in  their  passage 
through  ether,  from  which  his  followers  were  accustomed  to 
say  that  to  him  the  gods  had  revealed  "  the  music  of  the 
spheres." 

With  such  perfect  confidence  did  his  disciples  regard  their 
master,  who  usually  gave  his  instructions  from  behind  a  thick 
curtain,  that  when  any  one  called  their  doctrines  in  ques- 
tion they  deemed  it  sufficient  to  reply,  "He  said  so"  (ipse 
dixii).  Indeed,  they  invested  him  with  supernatural  powers, 
nor,  according  to  his  early  biographers,  did  he  deny  the 
soft  impeachment.  On  one  occasion,  we  are  told,  to  con- 
vince his  pupils  that  he  was  a  god,  he  showed  them  his 
thigh,  which  was  of  gold,  and  declared  that  he  had  assumed 
the  form  of  humanity  only  the  more  readily  to  impart  his 
lessons  to  mankind. 

Pythagoras  was  the  inventor  of  the  monochord,  a  one- 
stringed  instrument  designed  to  measure  musical  intervals, — 
and  also  of  the  more  useful,  if  humbler,  Multiplication  Table. 
He  is  the  first  who  practised  mesmerism  ;  at  least  so  we  may 
account  for  his  subduing  a  fierce  Daunian  bear,  and  taming 
beasts  and  birds  by  gently  passing  his  hands  over  their 
bodies. 

There  are  no  genuine  remnants  of  this  author.  The  cele- 
brated "Golden  Verses,"  long  attributed  to  him,  there  is 
reason  for  supposing  to  have  been  inspired  by  his  teachings, 
but  written  by  one  of  his  pupils  : — 


236  GKECIAN   LITEKATURE. 

FKOM  THE  GOLDEN  VEESES. 

"  Ne'er  suffer  sleep  thiue  eyes  to  close 

Before  thy  mind  bath  run 
O'er  every  act,  aiicl  thought,  and  word, 

From  dawn  to  set  of  sun ; 
For  wrong  take  shame,  but  grateful  feel, 

If  just  thy  course  hath  been  ; 
Such  eifort,  day  by  day  renewed, 

Will  ward  thy  soul  from  sin." 

As  the  Ionics  made  physics  everything,  so  the  Pythago- 
reans regarded  mathematical  science  as  the  summum  bonum. 
In  their  master's  eyes  the  world  was  "a  living  arithmetic," 
and  virtue  a  proportion  of  all  the  faculties  of  the  soul.  A 
mystical  relation  between  mathematical  and  moral  truths  was 
a  principle  of  his  philosophy. 

Prominent  among  the  followers  of  Pythagoras  was  EM- 
PEDOCLES,  of  Agrigentum  in  Sicily  (450  B.C.),  who  combined 
the  previous  theories  of  nature  in  his  own,  viz.,  that  four  ele- 
ments— earth,  air,  fire,  and  water — enter  into  the  constitution 
of  the  universe,  and  that  these  are  constantly  animated  by 
the  two  opposing  forces  of  Love  and  Strife.  A  peculiar  doc- 
trine of  his  was  that  like  is  perceived  only  by  like ;  thus  our 
knowledge  of  other  bodies  is  due  to  minute  emanations  from 
their  substance  which  enter  the  pores  and  impress  corre- 
sponding elements  in  our  own  frames. 

Empedocles  is  said  to  have  arrogated  to  himself  the  impor- 
tance of  a  god,  going  about  in  a  purple  robe  confined  with  a 
belt  of  gold,  performing  wonderful  cures.  According  to  an 
old  legend,  he  sought  to  create  the  belief  that  he  had  been 
translated  to  heaven,  by  secretly  throwing  himself  into  the 
crater  of  Mt.  Etna;  but  the  volcano,  in  a  subsequent  erup- 
tion, cast  forth  one  of  his  brazen  sandals  and  so  exposed 
the  fraud.  He  probably  lost  his  life  by  accident  while  ex- 
amining the  crater. 

From  the  Italic  School  sprung  the  sects  known  as  Eleatic, 


THE    ELEATIC   PHILOSOPHY.  237 

Epicurean,  and  Skeptic.  The  Eleatic  School  was  founded 
by  XENOPH'ANES  (600-500  B.C.),  a  contemporary  of  Pythag- 
oras, and  derived  its  name  from  the  town  of  E'lea  in  south- 
ern Italy. 

Xenophanes  asserted  the  unity  of  the  Deity.  "There  is 
one  god,"  he  said,  "among  gods  and  men  the  greatest: 
unlike  to  mortals  in  outward  shape,  unlike  in  mind  and 
thoughts."  This  was  truly  a  sublime  stand  to  take  in  an  age 
of  polytheism ;  he  who  feared  not  to  face  a  superstitious  peo- 
ple with  such  a  doctrine,  and  ridicule  even  their  divine  Ho- 
mer for  his  degrading  pictures  of  the  deities,  deserves  to  be 
ranked  among  the  greatest  philosophers  of  Greece. 

,  FRAGMENTS  FROM  XENOPHANES. 

"If  sheep,  aud  swine,  and  lions  strong,  and  all  the  bovine  crew, 
Could  paint  with  cunning  bauds,  and  do  what  clever  mortals  do, 
Depend  upon  it,  every  pig  with  snont  so  broad  and  blunt, 
Would  make  a  Jove  that  like  himself  would  thunder  with  a  grnnt ; 
And  every  lion's  god  would  roar,  aud  every  bull's  would  bellow, 
And  every  sheep's  would  baa,  and  every  beast  his  worshipped  fellow 
Would  find  in  some  immortal  form,  and  naught  exist  divine 
But  had  the  gait  of  lion,  sheep,  or  ox,  or  grunting  swine." 


"  Homer  and  Hesiod,  whom  we  own  great  doctors  of  theology, 
Said  many  things  of  blissful  gods  that  cry  for  large  apology — 
That  they  may  cheat,  and  rail,  and  lie,  and  give  the  rein  to  passion, 
Which  were  a  crime  in  men  who  tread  the  dust  in  mortal  fashion." 


"All  eyes,  all  ears,  all  thought,  is  God,  the  omnipresent  soul; 
And  free  from  toil,  by  force  of  mind,  he  moves  the  mighty  whole." 

BLACKIE. 

The  noble  conception  of  Deity  entertained  by  Xenophanes 
was  soon  perverted.  We  find  his  pupil  PARMEN'IDES  "the 
Great "  in  the  next  century  doing  away  with  the  personality 
of  God,  and  confounding  the  divine  nature  with  pure  being, 
which  he  made  equivalent  to  thought. 

DEMOC'RITUS,  of  Abde'ra  in  Thrace  (460-357  B.C.),  known 


238  GRECIAN  LITERATURE. 

as  the  laughing  philosopher  from  his  constantly  deriding  the 
weaknesses  of  men,  put  forth  the  atomic  theory, — that  the  uni- 
verse is  made  up  of  countless  minute,  intangible  atoms,  and 
that  in  the  motion  of  such  atoms,  round  and  fiery,  consisted 
the  movements  of  the  mind  and  soul.  God  had  no  place  in 
this  philosophy ;  matter,  time,  space,  and  motion,  were  eter- 
nal. Bodies  were  formed  by  the  fortuitous  concurrence  of 
atoms ;  and  by  the  affinities  and  motions  of  atoms  in  the 
vacuum  that  made  up  the  universe,  all  natural  phenomena 
were  produced. 

Such  was  the  wisdom  of  one  who  laughed  at  the  follies  of 
his  fellows,  and  is  stated  to  have  put  out  his  own  eyes  that 
nothing  might  distract  the  current  of  his  thoughts. 

School  of  Epicurus. — The  materialism  of  Democritus  was 
at  a  later  day  elaborated  by  EPICURUS  (born  on  Samos  about 
340  B.C.)  into  a  system  of  philosophy  which  gained  so  many 
converts  that  we  are  told  whole  cities  could  not  contain  the 
friends  and  followers  of  its  author.  According  to  the  Epicu- 
rean philosophy,  chance  governed  the  world  of  atoms ;  there 
was  no  life  beyond  the  grave.  The  gods  were  immortal,  but 
were  mere  figure-heads,  enjoying  an  emotionless  inactivity, 
indifferent  alike  to  the  vices  and  fortunes  of  men  :  most  likely 
Epicurus  did  not  believe  in  any  gods  at  all,  but  allowed  their 
existence,  as  nonentities,  that  he  might  not  shock  the  prej- 
udices of  the  Athenians.  Pleasure  he  made  the  chief  end  of 
life ;  but  with  him  pleasure  was  not  sensual  indulgence ;  it 
lay  in  freedom  from  pain,  the  sober  exercise  of  reason,  and 
the  nobler  enjoyments  of  man's  higher  nature.  Such  a  doc- 
trine, it  is  plain,  was  but  too  easy  of  perversion.  The  pure, 
high-toned  "  pleasure "  of  the  moral  Epicurus  degenerated 
with  the  voluptuaries  and  profligates  that  adopted  his  tenets 
into  the  vilest  excesses,  and  the  very  name  epicure  is  applied 
to  one  unduly  addicted  to  the  gratifying  of  the  appetite. 

The  Skeptical  Philosophy.— PYRRHO,  who  flourished  about 


SOCRATES.  239 

300  B.C.,  was  the  father  of  the  Skeptics.  They  held  that 
there  was  no  standard  of  truth  appreciable  by  the  human 
mind ;  nothing  can  therefore  be  asserted  as  true.  Pyrrho 
doubted  everything ;  his  disciples  used  to  follow  him,  lest,  in 
practically  applying  his  theory,  he  should  be  run  over  in  the 
streets  or  walk  off  a  precipice. 

The  Socratic  School. — When  Socrates  (470-399  B.C.)  came 
upon  the  stage  in  the  golden  period  of  Athens,  it  was  to  de- 
nounce the  atheistical  philosophy  of  his  predecessors,  and 
take  the  field  against  the  Sophists,  who  made  endless  dispu- 
tation, fallacious  but  specious,  the  head  and  front  of  their 
system.  "  These  word  -  snapping  quibblers,"  says  Felton, 
"were  prodigious  favorites  with  the  Athenians, — men  who 
proved  that  right  was  wrong,  and  wrong  right,  and  that  there 
was  neither  wrong  nor  right ;  that  knowing  one  thing  is 
knowing  everything,  and  that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  know- 
ing anything  at  all ;  that  as  the  beautiful  exists  by  the  pres- 
ence of  beauty,  so  a  man  becomes  an  ass  by  the  presence 
of  an  ass ;  and  so  on,  ringing  myriads  of  changes,  like  the 
fools  in  Shakespeare,  upon  these  quirks  of  jugglery." 

Socrates  had  an  effective  way  of  dealing  with  these  gentry. 
By  cunningly  contrived  questions,  which  at  first  seemed  to 
have  no  bearing  on  the  point  at  issue,  he  led  them  on  from 
admission  to  admission,  until  he  involved  them  in  absurdities 
and  convicted  them  out  of  their  own  mouths. 

For  one  like  Socrates,  the  mythology  of  Greece  was  too 
gross,  the  speculations  of  the  philosophy  then  current  were 
too  unreal  and  hollow.  He  aspired  to  something  better.  At 
length  the  unity  of  God,  the  soul's  immortality,  and  the  moral 
responsibility  of  man,  dawned  upon  his  mind — sublime  truths 
which  he  might  well  have  drawn  from  revelation  itself.  The 
practice  of  virtue  he  inculcated  as  indispensable  to  happi- 
ness and  true  religion.  A  demon,  or  secret  influence,  he  said, 
constantly  attended  him,  and  was  his  director  in  the  work  of 


240  GRECIAN   LITERATURE. 

social  reform  no  less  than  in  the  every -day  affairs  of  life. 
Whether  he  deceived  himself  in  this  belief  or  strove  to  de- 
ceive others  into  it  that  he  might  gain  credence  for  his  doc- 
trines, certain  it  is  that  his  teachings  exercised  a  most  whole- 
some influence.  All  subsequent  Greek  philosophy  is  stamped 
with  their  impress. 

In  his  domestic  relations,  Socrates  was  not  happy.  Be- 
lieving it  incumbent  on  him  to  devote  every  moment  to  phil- 
osophical inquiry  or  exhortations  of  the  people  to  practical 
morality,  he  was  wont  to  neglect  his  legitimate  business  of 
stone-cutting,  and  leave  his  family  to  provide  for  its  own  sup- 
port. This  was  too  much  for  his  good  wife  Xantippe.  Some- 
thing of  a  shrew  even  under  the  best  of  circumstances,  we 
may  imagine  that  she  made  his  household  rather  hot,  par- 
ticularly when  he  brought  guests  home  to  dinner  and  there 
was  nothing  in  the  larder.  On  one  occasion  she  went  so 
far  as  to  give  emphasis  to  her  reproaches  with  a  shower  of 
dish-water.  The  dripping  philosopher,  not  in  the  least  dis- 
turbed, calmly  remarked,  "I  thought  after  so  much  thunder, 
we  should  have  some  rain." 

Socrates  declined  the  invitation  of  a  Macedonian  prince  to 
live  in  luxury  at  his  court,  with  the  characteristic  reply,  "At 
Athens  meal  is  two-pence  the  measure,  and  water  may  be 
had  for  nothing."  He  clung  to  Athens  to  the  last,  and  so 
doing  won  a  martyr's  crown.  Accused  of  impiety  in  corrupt- 
ing the  religious  belief  of  the  young  committed  to  his  charge, 
he  was  condemned  to  drink  the  fatal  hemlock.  Surrounded 
by  sorrowing  disciples,  who  had  bribed  the  jailer  and  vainly 
urged  him  to  fly  while  there  was  yet  time,  he  calmly  placed 
the  cup  to  his  lips,  and  soon  after  passed  away  with  not  a 
doubt  as  to  "the  undiscovered  country."  "I  derive  confi- 
dence," said  he,  "from  the  hope  that  something  of  man  re- 
mains after  death,  and  that  the  condition  of  good  men  will 
then  be  much  better  than  that  of  the  bad." 


THE   ACADEMIC   PHILOSOPHY. 


241 


Socrates  failed  to  commit  his  philosophy  to  writing;  it  is 
from  the  pages  of  Xenophon  and  Plato,  his  most  devoted  ad- 
mirers, that  we  have  learned  his  doctrines. 

The  principal  schools  that  originated  in  the  Socratic  were 
the  Academic,  Peripatetic,  Cynic,  and  Stoic. 

Academic  School.  —  Plato, — The  Academic  School  was 
founded  by  Socrates'  pupil,  Plato,  and  derived  its  name  from 
the  grove  of  Acade'mus,  a  public  garden  at  Athens  in  which 
this  philosopher  was  accustomed  to  deliver  his  lectures. 
Beneath  its  planes  and  olives  flowed  the  stream  Cephissus; 


statues  and  temples  were 
scattered  through  its 
shade,  and  solitary  paths 
invited  to  rest  and  medi- 
tation. 


242  GRECIAN   LITERATURE. 

Plato  was  noble-born,  tracing  his  descent  from  King  Co- 
drus  through  one  parent  and  from  Solon  through  the  other. 
His  great  genius  was  early  seen.  After  mastering  the  ele- 
mentary branches,  he  turned  his  attention  to  painting  and 
poetry;  but  when  he  compared  an  epic  on  which  he  had  tried 
his  hand  with  Homer's,  he  threw  it  into  the  fire  in  disgust. 
Chancing  to  hear  Socrates  discourse,  he  forthwith  resolved  to 
forsake  the  ornamental  arts  and  study  philosophy.  So,  when 
only  twenty,  Plato  attached  himself  to  Socrates ;  his  admira- 
tion quickly  ripened  into  an  abiding  affection  ;  and  for  eight 
years  he  sat  at  the  philosopher's  feet  as  a  pupil,  though  now 
and  then  obtruding  new  theories  of  his  own.  In  the  dark 
days  of  his  master's  trial  and  condemnation,  he  was  still  faith- 
ful ;  and  when  the  judges  silenced  his  speech  in  defence  of 
Socrates,  he  would  have  resorted  to  the  money-argument, 
which  then,  as  now,  seldom  failed,  had  not  the  high-minded 
sage  refused  to  secure  life  by  such  ignoble  means. 

After  the  execution  of  Socrates,  Plato  pursued  his  studies 
in  foreign  lands.  He  visited  Italy,  Sicily,  and  Egypt,  carefully 
examining  their  different  systems  of  philosophy,  and  possibly 
even  making  the  acquaintance  of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures. 
During  this  tour  he  is  related  to  have  been  sold  into  slavery 
at  the  instigation  of  Dionysius,  tyrant  of  Syracuse,  whom  he 
had  offended  by  his  bold  expressions. 

On  his  return  to  Athens,  in  accordance  with  a  long-cher- 
ished plan,  Plato  opened  an  humble  dwelling  in  the  grove  of 
Academus  for  the  reception  of  pupils,  and  founded  the  famous 
Academic  School.  He  soon  became  the  most  popular  man 
in  Athens.  Crowds  thronged  to  his  lectures  and  dialogues, 
which  were  free  to  all ;  and  even  ladies  assumed  male  attire, 
that  they  might  mingle  unnoticed  with  the  listeners  and  drink 
in  the  eloquence  which  flowed  from  his  lips.  His  fame  went 
abroad  also.  Foreign  potentates  sought  his  aid  in  adjusting 
political  difficulties  ;  and  twice,  by  request,  he  returned  to  the 


PLATO   AND    HIS   PHILOSOPHY.  243 

Syracusan  court  to  effect  a  reform  in  the  government — but 
in  this  case,  without  success. 

On  his  eighty-second  birthday,  while  he  was  pursuing  his 
accustomed  occupation,  the  stylus  suddenly  fell  from  Plato's 
hand,  and  he  expired.  Under  the  trees  so  long  associated 
with  his  kindly  instruction,  he  found  a  final  resting-place  ;  an 
admiring  country  preserved  his  memory  by  altars  and  statues ; 
and  the  verdict  of  succeeding  generations  has  been  that  Plato 
was  the  greatest  philosopher  of  antiquity. 

PLATO'S  PHILOSOPHICAL  SYSTEM. — Plato  was  an  enthusiast 
in  the  pursuit  of  truth.  He  believed  in  a  personal  God,  ra- 
tional, immutable,  eternal.  He  realized  that  man  could  never 
attain  absolute  wisdom,  possible  to  God  alone ;  and  looked 
upon  philosophy  as  "  a  longing  after  heavenly  wisdom."  He 
sought  to  correct  abuses,  to  elevate  humanity ;  and  made 
man's  highest  duty  consist  in  searching  out  God  and  imitat- 
ing the  perfection  of  the  Almighty  as  his  rule  of  conduct. 
The  four  cardinal  virtues  were  wisdom,  temperance,  courage, 
and  justice ;  but  none  could  be  virtuous  without  aid  from  on 
high. 

The  soul,  an  emanation  from  the  Supreme  Mind,  was  im- 
mortal. It  existed  before  its  union  with  the  body,  and  all 
earthly  knowledge  is  but  the  recollection  of  what  it  possessed 
in  some  former  state.  When,  disembodied,  it  stood  face  to 
face  with  kindred  immaterial  essences,  it  acquired  those  ideas, 
or  forms,  which  figure  so  prominently  in  the  Platonic  system 
— interpreted  by  some  to  mean  veritable  objective  existences 
too  subtile  to  be  discerned  by  the  eye  of  flesh,  and  by  others 
explained  as  mere  intuitions  or  generalizations  having  no  ob- 
jective reality. 

Plato  regarded  men  as  free  agents,  to  be  rewarded  or  pun- 
ished in  a  future  life  for  their  deeds  in  this.  His  poetical 
fancy  fixed  on  some  distant  star  as  the  abode  of  the  blessed. 
The  earth  he  supposed  to  occupy  the  centre  of  the  universe. 


244  GRECIAN   LITERATURE. 

It  was  not  eternal,  but  was  made  by  an  intelligent  God,  who 
breathed  into  it  a  soul;  so  it  was  a  living  creature,  self-active, 
and  gifted  with  the  beautiful  form  of  the  sphere. 

Nor  did  the  philosopher  forget  to  train  the  reasoning  pow- 
ers, by  the  study  of  mathematics.  The  importance  he  attached 
to  this  science  may  be  inferred  from  the  sign  on  his  school : 
"  Let  no  one  enter  here  who  is  a  stranger  to  geometry."  Plato 
has  the  honor  of  having  been  the  inventor  of  geometrical 
analysis. 

PLATO'S  WORKS,  which  have  descended  to  us  unimpaired, 
are  in  the  form  of  dialogues — a  delightful  method  of  convey- 
ing philosophical  instruction,  when,  as  in  Plato's  case,  the 
personages  introduced  as  speakers  are  salient  characters,  and 
their  idiosyncrasies  are  maintained  throughout  with  discrim- 
ination. The  dull  lessons  of  dialectics  are  thus  enlivened  by 
graphic  portraitures  and  happy  strokes  of  humor.  Plato's 
language  is  the  perfection  of  Attic  prose,  beautified  by  a  poet- 
ical tinge.  "If  Jupiter  should  speak  Greek,"  said  ancient 
critics,  "it  would  be  Plato's."  What  Socrates  dreamed  on 
the  night  before  the  young  Plato  entered  his  school — that  a 
cygnet  came  from  the  grove  of  Academus,  and,  after  nestling 
on  his  breast  for  a  time,  took  its  flight  heavenward,  singing 
sweetly  as  it  rose — is  recorded  as  presaging  his  pupil's  sweet 
mastery  of  words. 

The  Platonic  Dialogues,  thirty-five  in  number,  discuss  vari- 
ous subjects.  One  of  the  finest  is  "  Phasdo,"  written  to  prove 
the  immortal  nature  of  the  soul.  It  derives  its  name  from  the 
beloved  disciple  of  Socrates,  who  is  here  made  by  Plato,  pre- 
vented from  being  present  himself,  to  describe  their  master's 
death-scene  and  repeat  his  last  discourse.  Full  of  sublime 
and  poetical  conceptions,  the  "  Phsedo  "  aims  at  lifting  the 
mind  above  the  sensual  to  the  spiritual  and  eternal;  at  fore- 
shadowing the  joys  of  the  heavenly  state,  and  painting  death 
as  a  thing  to  be  desired  rather  than  feared,  since  it  is  the  por- 


PLATO    ON   IMMORTALITY.  245 

tal  of  bliss.  The  philosopher  Cleom'brotus,  on  reading  this 
Dialogue,  is  said  to  have  thrown  himself  into  the  sea  to  ex- 
change this  life  for  the  better  one  pictured  by  Plato. 

EXTRACT  FROM  PH^EDO. 

(Socrates,  having  proved  the  immortality  of  the  soul  to  the  satisfaction  of 
all  present  in  the  prison,  addresses  them  as  follows.) 

"  Then,  Cebes,  beyond  question,  the  sonl  is  immortal  and  imperish- 
able, and  onr  souls  will  truly  exist  in  another  world !" 

"  I  am  convinced,  Socrates,"  said  Cebes,  "  and  have  nothing  more 
to  object ;  but  if  my  friend  Simmias,  or  any  one  else,  has  any  further 
objection,  he  had  better  speak  out,  and  not  keep  silence,  s.ince  I  do 
not  know  to  what  other  season  he  can  defer  the  discussion,  if  there 
is  anything  which  he  wants  to  say  or  have  said." 

"I  have  nothing  more  to  say,"  replied  Simmias;  "nor  can  I  see 
any  reason  for  doubt  after  what  has  been  said.  But  I  still  feel  and 
cannot  help  feeling  uncertain  in  my  own  mind,  when  I  think  of  the 
greatness  of  the  subject  and  the  feebleness  of  man." 

"  Yes,  Simmias,"  replied  Socrates,  "  that  is  well  said ;  but  O  my 
friends!  if  the  soul  is  really  immortal,  what  care  should  be  taken  of 
her,  not  only  in  respect  of  the  portion  of  time  which  is  called  life,  but 
of  eternity !  And  the  danger  of  neglecting  her  from  this  point  of 
view  does  indeed  appear  to  be  awful.  If  death  had  only  been  the 
end  of  all,  the  wicked  would  have  had  a  good  bargain  in  dying,  for 
they  would  have  been  happily  quit  not  only  of  their  body,  but  of 
their  own  evil  together  with  their  souls.  But  now,  inasmuch  as  the 
soul  is  manifestly  immortal,  there  is  no  release  or  salvation  from  evil 
except  the  attainment  of  the  highest  virtue  and  wisdom.  For  the 
soul,  when  on  her  progress  to  the  world  below,  takes  nothing  with 
her  but  nurture  and  education ;  and  these  are  said  greatly  to  bene- 
fit or  greatly  to  injure  the  departed,  at  the  very  beginning  of  his 
pilgrimage  in  the  other  world. 

"  Wherefore,  Simmias,  seeing  all  these  things,  what  ought  not  we 
to  do  that  we  may  obtain  virtue  and  wisdom  in  this  life  ?  Fair  is 
the  prize,  and  the  hope  great! 

"A  man  of  sense  ought  not  to  say  that  the  description  which  I  have 
given  of  the  sonl  and  her  mansions  is  exactly  true.  But  I  do  say  that, 
inasmuch  as  the  soul  is  shown  to  be  immortal,  he  may  venture  to 
think  that  something  of  the  kind  is  true.  The  venture  is  a  glorious 
one,  and  he  ought  to  comfort  himself  with  words  like  these,  which  is 
the  reason  why  I  lengthen  out  the  tale. 

"  Wherefore,  I  say,  let  a  man  be  of  good  cheer  about  his  soul,  who 
has  cast  away  the  pleasures  and  ornaments  of  the  body  as  alien 
to  him,  and  has  followed  after  the  pleasures  of  knowledge  in  this 
life ;  who  has  arrayed  the  soul  iu  her  own  proper  jewels,  which  are 


246  GRECIAN   LITERATURE. 

temperance,  and  justice,  arid  courage,  and  nobility,  and  truth — thus 
adorned,  she  is  ready  to  go  oil  her  journey  to  the  world  below  when, 
her  hour  comes. 

"  You,  Sirnmias  and  Cebes,  and  all  other  men,  will  depart  at  some 
time  or  other.  Me  already,  as  the  tragic  poet  would  say,  the  voice  of 
fate  calls.  Soon  I  must  drink  the  poison ;  and  I  think  that  I  had 
better  repair  to  the  bath  first,  in  order  that  the  women  may  not  have 
the  trouble  of  washing  my  body  after  I  am  dead." 

When  he  had  done  speaking,  Crito  said :  "  And  have  you  any  com- 
mands for  us,  Socrates  ?  anything  to  say  about  your  children,  or  any 
other  matter  in  which  we  can  serve  you?" 

"Nothing  particular,"  he  said:  "only,  as  I  have  always  told  you, 
I  would  have  you  look  to  yourselves ;  that  is  a  service  which  you 
may  always  be  doing  to  me  and  mine  as  well  as  to  yourselves." 

"  We  will  do  our  best," said  Crito ;  "but  iu  what  way  would  you 
have  us  bury  you  ?" 

"  Iu  any  way  that  you  like ;  only  you  must  get  hold  of  me,  and 
take  care  that  I  do  not  walk  away  from  you." 

Then  he  turned  to  us,  and  added  with  a  smile  : — "  I  cannot  make 
Crito  believe  that  I  am  the  same  Socrates  who  have  been  talking  and 
conducting  the  argument ;  he  fancies  that  I  am  the  other  Socrates 
whom  he  will  soon  see,  a  dead  body — and  he  asks,  How  shall  he  bury 
me  ?  And  though  I  have  spoken  many  words  in  the  endeavor  to 
show  that  when  I  have  drunk  the  poison  I  shall  leave  you  and  go  to 
the  joys  of  the  blessed,  these  words  of  mine,  with  which  I  comforted 
you  and  myself,  have  had,  as  I  perceive,  no  effect  upon  Crito. 

"  You  must  be  my  surety  to  him  that  I  shall  not  remain,  but  go 
away  and  depart ;  and  then  he  will  suffer  less  at  my  death,  and  not 
be  grieved  when  he  sees  my  body  being  burned  or  buried.  I  would 
not  have  him  sorrow  at  my  hard  lot,  or  say  at  the  burial,  'Thus  we 
lay  out  Socrates,'  or  'Tims  we  follow  him  to  the  grave  or  bury  him  ;' 
for  false  words  are  not  only  evil  in  themselves,  but  they  infect  the 
soul  with  evil. 

"  Be  of  good  cheer  then,  my  dear  Crito,  and  say  that  you  are  bury- 
ing my  body  only,  and  do  with  that  as  is  usual,  and  as  you  think 
best." — JOWETT. 

In  his  "  Republic,"  Plato  indulges  in  a  political  dream, 
sketching  an  ideal  government  and  embodying  his  conception 
of  absolute  justice.  In  his  "Atlantis,"  he  describes  a  large 
island  lying  west  of  Europe,  which  some  have  tried  to  con- 
nect with  America. 

The  Academic  School  long  survived  its  founder ;  but  little 
if  any  advance  was  made  by  his  successors.  Its  fundamental 
tenets  outlived  Greece  and  Rome,  to  reappear  in  the  schools 


ARISTOTLE.  247 

of  modern  times.  Many  of  them  are  in  wonderful  harmony 
with  Christian  doctrines ;  and  such  a  resemblance  to  the  Jew- 
ish Scriptures  has  been  detected  in  the  writings  of  their  author 
that  he  has  been  called  "  the  Attic  Moses." 

Peripatetic  School. — Aristotle. — The  Peripatetic  was  an  off- 
shoot from  the  Academic  School,  its  founder  Aristotle  having 
for  twenty  years  studied  under  Plato.  Its  influence  cannot 
be  estimated ;  for  1,800  years,  up  to  the  revival  of  letters  in 
modern  times,  its  author  was  recognized  as  the  supreme  au- 
thority on  every  subject,  whether  by  Moslem  or  Christian. 

ARISTOTLE  (384-322  B.C.)  was  born  at  the  Thracian  town 
of  Stagi'ra.  Inheriting  from  his  father  literary  tastes  as  well 
as  the  means  to  gratify  them,  he  selected  Athens  as  the  scene 
of  his  labors,  and  there,  at  the  age  of  seventeen,  he  entered 
the  Academy  of  Plato.  So  energetically  did  he  apply  him- 
self, not  as  a  servile  follower  but  often  as  a  pioneer  in  new 
paths  of  his  own,  that  his  master  said  he  required  the  bit 
rather  than  the  spur,  and  styled  him  the  Intellect  of  the 
school.  On  one  occasion,  when  none  but  this  ardent  pupil 
was  present  to  hear  his  lecture,  Plato  proceeded  as  usual, 
saying  that  "  so  long  as  he  had  Aristotle  for  an  audience,  he 
had  the  better  half  of  Athens."  His  industry  was  proverbial ; 
he  grudged  the  time  needed  for  repose,  and  used  to  sleep 
with  a  ball  in  his  hand,  that  when  it  fell  from  his  grasp  by 
the  relaxing  of  the  muscles  the  noise  would  awaken  him. 

When  Plato  died,  Aristotle  retired  from  the  Academy ;  and 
in  342  B.C.  he  received  the  following  letter  from  Philip  of 
Macedon,  whose  court  he  had  visited  as  an  ambassador : — 

"PHILIP  to  ARISTOTLE,  wisheth  health : 

Be  informed  that  I  have  a  son,  and  that  I  am  thankful  to  the  gods, 
not  so  much  for  his  birth,  as  that  he  was  born  in  the  same  age  with 
yon  ;  for  if  you  will  undertake  the  charge  of  his  education,  I  assure 
myself  that  he  will  become  worthy  of  his  father,  and  of  the  kingdom 
which  he  will  inherit." 

There  was  no  declining  such  an  invitation.     At  Stagira,  his 


248  GRECIAN   LITERATUEE. 

native  town,  Philip  provided  a  school  and  the  accustomed 
grove  for  instruction,  in  which  the  philosopher  moulded  the 
mind  of  Alexander  the  future  Conqueror.  The  king  of  Mace- 
don  was  more  than  satisfied  with  the  results ;  and  the  royal 
pupil  owned  his  indebtedness  to  his  teacher,  exclaiming, 
"  Philip  only  gave  me  life,  but  Aristotle  has  taught  me  the 
art  of  living  well !" 

When,  on  the  assassination  of  Philip,  Alexander  mounted 
the  throne  and  embarked  on  that  expedition  which  extended 
the  sway  of  Macedon  over  half  the  known  world,  he  showed 
his  gratitude  by  making  his  instructor  a  munificent  present 
equivalent  to  nearly  $1,000,000,  and  employed  two  or  three 
thousand  men  to  fill  his  cabinets  with  specimens.  Thus 
supplied  with  material  and  funds,  Aristotle,  established  in 
Athens  since  335  B.C.  as  a  distinguished  teacher  despite 
his  traditional  lisp  and  insignificant  appearance,  vigorously 
prosecuted  his  scientific  labors.  At  the  Lyce'um,  Apollo's 
temple,  he  gave  instruction  to  his  disciples,  walking  up  and 
down  in  the  covered  paths  (peripatoi}  about  the  building — 
whence  the  name  of  his  school,  Peripatetic.  He  mastered  all 
existing  knowledge,  regarding  learning  as  "  an  ornament  to 
men  in  prosperity,  a  refuge  in  adversity ;"  and  for  thirteen 
years  divided  his  time  between  his  pupils  and  his  literary 
work. 

The  news  of  Alexander's  sudden  death  was  the  signal  for 
Aristotle's  enemies,  no  longer  restrained  by  fear  of  his  royal 
friend,  to  show  their  hand.  Impiety  was  alleged  against 
him ;  but  mindful  of  the  fate  of  Socrates,  and,  as  he  said,  to 
prevent  the  Athenians  from  sinning  a  second  time  against 
philosophy,  he  retired  to  Chalcis  on  the  island  of  Eubcea, 
where  he  died  within  a  year. 

PHILOSOPHY  AND  WRITINGS  OF  ARISTOTLE. — While  to 
some  extent  following  his  master,  from  several  of  Plato's 
doctrines  Aristotle  felt  compelled  to  dissent ;  truth,  he  said, 


ARISTOTLE'S  PHILOSOPHY.  249 

was  dearer  to  him  than  any  friend.*  He  did  not  accept  the 
Ideal  theory,  but  inclined  to  materialism  or  to  pantheism, 
making  reason  divine  and  omnipresent.  He  doubted  his  own 
immortality,  holding  that  the  soul  could  not  exist  apart  from 
the  body,  and  that  there  is  "  nothing  good  or  bad  beyond  to 
the  dead."  His  style  was  dry,  elliptical,  and  full  of  techni- 
calities ;  if  we  compare  it  with  Plato's,  we  have  the  opposite 
poles  of  the  magnet. 

Plato  was  all  imagination,  Aristotle  was  thoroughly  practi- 
cal. The  inspiration  of  the  one  was  a  passionate  love  of 
wisdom ;  the  forte  of  the  other  was  power  of  analysis,  a  won- 
derful faculty  of  systemizing  knowledge.  The  master  capti. 
vated  the  heart ;  the  pupil  convinced  the  reason.  "  The 
philosophy  of  Plato,"  says  Dr.  Draper,  "  is  a  gorgeous  castle 
in  the  air ;  that  of  Aristotle  is  a  solid  structure  laboriously 
founded  on  rock." 

Aristotle's  style  is  devoid  of  ornament,  and  his  subjects 
are  too  abstruse  for  the  general  run  of  readers ;  but  he  was 
a  keen  observer  and  a  close  reasoner.  A  few  paragraphs 
from  his  Rhetoric,  in  which  he  analyzes  the  peculiarities 
of  old  age,  will  show  how  well  he  understood  human  nature. 

THE  DISPOSITION  OF  THE  OLD. 

"Those  who  are  advanced  in  life,  having  been  deceived  in  a 
greater  number  of  instances,  err  in  everything  more  on  the  side  of 
defect  than  they  ought.  And  they  always  suppose,  bnt  never  know 
certainly;  and,  questioning  everything,  they  always  subjoin  ««i  per- 
haps, or  a  possibly.  And  they  are  apt  to  view  things  in  an  unfavor- 
able light ;  for  a  disposition  thus  to  view  things,  is  the  judging  of 
everything  on  the  worse  side. 

Moreover,  they  are  apt  to  be  suspicions  from  distrust,  and  they  are 
distrustful  from  their  experience.  And  on  this  account  they  neither 
love  nor  hate  with  great  earnestness;  but,  conformably  to  the  re- 
mark of  Bias,  they  both  love  as  though  about  to  hate,  and  hate  as 
though  about  to  love.  And  they  are  pusillanimous,  from  their  hav- 


*  Hence  probably  the  origin  of  the  proverb,."  Amictis  Plato,  sed  magis  arnica 
veritas  " — "  Plato  is  dear,  but  truth  is  dearer." 

L 


250  GRECIAN   LITERATURE. 

ing  been  humbled  by  the  course  of  life ;  for  they  raise  their  desires 
to  nothing  great  or  vast,  but  to  things  only  which  conduce  to  the 
support  of  life. 

And  they  are  illiberal ;  for  property  is  one  of  the  necessaries ;  and 
they  are  at  the  same  time  aware,  from  their  experience,  of  the  diffi- 
culty of  its  acquisition,  and  of  the  ease  with  which  it  is  lost.  They 
are  timid  and  apprehensive  of  everything ;  for  their  disposition  is 
the  reverse  of  that  of  the  young ;  for  they  have  been  chilled  by 
years,  but  the  young  are  warm  in  their  temperament ;  so  that  their 
age  has  paved  the  way  to  timidity;  for  fear  is  a  certain  kind  of 
chill. 

And  they  are  attached  to  life,  and  particularly  at  its  last  closing 
day,  from  the  circumstance  that  desire  is  of  some  object  which  is 
absent,  and  that  .men  more  especially  desire  that  of  which  they 
stand  in  need. 

They  have  self-love  more  than  is  fitting ;  for  this  too  is  a  kind  of 
littleness  of  spirit.  And  they  live  in  a  greater  degree  than  they 
ought  by  the  standai'd  of  expediency,  and  not  of  what  is  honorable, 
by  reason  of  their  self-love :  for  what  is  expedient  is  good  rehttircly 
to  one's  self,  but  what  is  honorable  is  good  absolutely. 

Again,  they  are  not  easily  inspired  with  hope,  on  account  of  their 
experience;  for  the  majority  of  things  are  but  paltry ;  wherefore  the 
generality  turn  out  inferior  to  the  expectation;  and  once  more,  on 
account  of  their  timidity  they  are  apt  to  despond.  And  they  live 
more  in  memory  than  in  hope ;  for  the  remnant  of  life  is  brief,  but 
what  has  passed  is  considerable ;  and  hope  indeed  is  of  what  is  to 
come ;  whereas  memory  is  of  things  gone  by.  The  very  reason,  this, 
of  their  garrulity ;  for  they  never  cease  talking  of  that  which  has 
taken  place,  since  they  are  delighted  in  awakening  the  recollections 
of  things. 

And  their  anger  is  keen,  but  faint.  And  some  of  their  desires 
have  abandoned  them.  Others  are  faint ;  so  that  neither  are  they 
liable  to  the  influence  of  desire,  nor  apt  to  act  in  conformity  to  it, 
but  with  a  view  to  gain  ;  on  which  account  men  of  this  ago  appear 
to  be  naturally  temperate,  for  both  their  desires  have  relaxed,  and 
they  are  enslaved  to  gain. 

The  old  have  moreover  ft  tendency  to  pity,  but  not  on  the  same 
principle  with  the  young ;  for  the  latter  are  thus  disposed  from  their 
love  of  human  nature;  the  former  from  their  imbecility.  Whence 
they  are  querulous,  and  neither  facetious  nor  fond  of  mirth ;  for 
quernlousness  is  the  very  reverse  of  fondness  for  mirth.  Such  is 
the  disposition  of  those  in  advanced  life." — TIIEODOUE  BUCKLEY. 


The  writings  of  Aristotle  exhausted  the  fields  of  art  and 
science  ;  400  treatises,  most  of  which  have  perished,  at  one 
time  bore  his  name.  Rhetoric,  psychology  or  mental  sci- 


ARISTOTLE'S  MODE  OF  REASONING.  251 

ence,  and  natural  history,  owed  to  him  their  origin.  In  his 
"Organon"  was  first  presented  the  method  of  deduction, — the 
process  by  which  the  mind  reasons  down  from  general  propo- 
sitions to  particular  cases,  by  means  of  the  syllogism,  the  organ 
or  instrument  of  reasoning.  Men  had  thus  arrived  at  con- 
clusions for  ages,  without  any  knowledge  of  Aristotle's  for- 
mulas, just  as  they  had  talked  correctly  though  ignorant  of 
analytical  grammar.  It  was  reserved  for  the  Stagirite  to  dis- 
cover the  laws  by  which  they  drew  conclusions,  and  thus  at 
once  to  found  and  perfect  LOGIC.  This  was  the  science  of 
reasoning,  as  contrasted  with  Plato's  dialectics  or  method  of 
discussing. 

Nor  was  Aristotle  unacquainted  with  Induction,  the  great 
lever  of  modern  philosophy.  This  process,  which  reverses 
the  steps  of  deduction,*  and  reasons  from  particular  cases  up 
to  general  laws,  was  employed  in  his  researches,  but  was  not 
fully  developed  till  twenty  centuries  later  in  the  "Novum 
Organon"  of  Lord  Bacon,  opening  the  way  to  a  new  era  in 
scientific  investigation. 

Aristotle  willed  his  writings  to  his  disciple  Theophrastus, 
whom  we  shall  next  consider ;  and  for  many  years  they  were 
kept  from  the  world,  while  numerous  imitations  and  forgeries 
gained  the  popular  ear  through  the  prestige  of  Aristotle's  name. 
It  was  not  till  50  B.C.  that  a  complete  edition  of  the  genuine 
works  was  published,  and  then  at  Rome.  Meanwhile  the  Ly- 
ceum had  waned ;  its  later  heads  were  men  of  mediocre  ability, 


*  The  difference  between  reasoning  by  Deduction  and  by  Induction  may  be 
made  clearer  by  the  following  examples : — 
DEDUCTION. — Dogs  are  quadrupeds. 
Tray  is  a  dog. 

Therefore,  Tray  is  a  quadruped. 

INDUCTION. — Tray  is  a  quadruped;  Carlo  is  a  quadruped;  Fan  is  a  quad- 
ruped ;  Pet  is  a  quadruped ;  etc. 
Tray,  Carlo,  Fan,  Pet,  etc.,  are  dogs. 
Therefore,  all  dogs  are  quadrupeds. 


2o2  GKECIAN   LITEKATUKE. 

and  the  Peripatetic  School  was  superseded  in  popular  estima- 
tion by  the  Epicurean  and  the  Stoic. 

Theophrastus,  of  Lesbos  (374-287  B.C.),  a  pupil  of  Plato 
and  afterward  of  Aristotle,  succeeded  the  latter,  by  his  ap- 
pointment, as  head  of  the  Lyceum.  During  his  time,  he 
maintained  the  high  reputation  of  the  school,  attracting  many 
to  it  from  all  parts  of  Greece  by  his  eloquence.  That  he 
might  address  a  still  larger  audience,  he  wrote  numerous 
treatises  on  philosophy  and  natural  history. 

His  "  Moral  Characters,"  which  have  descended  to  us, 
show  up  in  lively  colors  such  representative  personages  as 
the  Gabbler,  the  Niggard,  the  Noodle,  the  Grumbler,  the 
Swell,  the  Poltroon,  the  Slanderer,  the  Newsmonger,  the 
Clown,  etc.,  from  whom,  it  seems,  that  Greek  society  was  not 
exempt  any  more  than  our  own.  These  were  the  first  char- 
acter-sketches ever  made;  they  served  as  models  to  La 
Bruyere  in  French,  to  Sir  Thomas  Overbury  and  others  in 
English  literature.  As  specimens,  we  cull  the  most  pointed 
portions  of  the  sections  on  the  Flatterer  and  the  Unseason- 
able Man. 

THE  FLATTERER. 

"Flattery  may  be  considered  as  a  mode  of  companionship,  de- 
grading but  profitable  to  him  who  flatters. 

The  Flatterer  is  a  person  who  will  say  as  he  walks  with  another, 
'Do  you  observe  how  people  are  looking  at  you?  This  happens  to 
no  man  in  Athens  but  you.  A  compliment  was  paid  to  you  yester- 
day in  the  Porch.  More  than  thirty  persons  were  sitting  there ; 
the  question  was  started,  Who  is  our  foremost  man  ?  Every  one 
mentioned  you  first,  and  ended  by  coming  back  to  your  name.' 

Then  he  will  request  the  company  to  be  silent  while  the  great 
man  is  speaking,  and  will  praise  him,  too,  in  his  hearing,  and  mark 
his  approbation  at  a  pause  with  '  True ;'  or  he  will  laugh  at  a  frigid 
joke,  and  stuff  his  cloak  into  his  mouth  as  if  he  could  not  repress 
his  amusement. 

He  will  request  those  whom  he  meets  to  stand  still  until  'his 
Honor'  has  passed.  He  will  buy  apples  and  pears,  and  bring  them 
in,  and  give  to  the  children  in  the  father's  presence;  adding,  \vith 
kisses,  '  Chicks  of  a  good  father.'  Also,  when  he  assists  at  the  pur- 


"CHARACTERS"  OF  THEOPHRASTUS.  253 

chase  of  slippers,  he  will  declare  that  the  foot  is  more  shapely  than 
the  shoe.  If  his  patron  is  approaching  a  friend,  he  will  run  forward 
and  say, '  He  is  coming  to  you ;'  and  then,  turning  back, '  I  have  an- 
nounced you.' 

He  is  the  first  of  the  guests  to  praise  the  wine ;  and  to  say,  as  he 
reclines  next  the  host,  '  How  delicate  is  your  fare !  aud  (taking  np 
something  from  the  table)  '  Now  this — how  excellent  it  is !'  He  will 
say  that  his  patron's  house  is  well  built,  that  his  land  is  well  planted, 
and  that  his  portrait  is  a  good  likeness." — JEBB. 


MR.  MALAPROP. 

"  Unseasonable  behavior  is  such  a  manner  of  conversation  as  is 
very  troublesome  to  those  with  whom  you  converse. 

A  man  that  acts  unseasonably  will  intrude  himself  upon  his  friend, 
when  he  is  engaged  in  earnest  business,  and  consult  him  about  his 
own  private  concerns.  When  his  mistress  lies  dangerously  ill  of  a 
fever,  he'll  make  her  a  visit  and  carry  himself  gayly.  If  he  stands  in 
need  of  a  surety,  he  begs  that  favor  of  one  who  has  just  smarted  for 
being  bound  to  another.  If  he  is  summoned  for  a  witness -in  any 
cause,  he  appears  in  court  immediately  after  judgment  has  been  given. 

When  he  is  invited  to  a  wedding,  he  takes  the  opportunity  to  rail 
at  the  fair  sex.  If  he  meets  a  friend  who  has  just  come  home  from  a 
long  journey,  he'll  press  him  to  take  a  Wcilk.  He  is  ever  ready  aud 
punctual,  as  soon  as  a  shop-keeper  has  sold  his  goods,  to  help  him  to 
a  customer  that  would  have  given  more. 

If  he  happens  to  be  in  a  place  where  a  servant  is  chastised,  all  the 
comfort  he  gives  him  is  to  tell  him  that  he  also  had  formerly  a  boy 
whom  he  chastised  in  the  same  manner,  and  that  the  poor  lad  so  re- 
sented this  usage  that  he  immediately  made  way  with  himself.  If 
he  is  accidentally  present  at  an  arbitration,  where  the  contending 
parties  desire  to  have  the  matter  in  dispute  between  them  amicably 
settled,  instead  of  promoting  a  reconciliation,  he  sets  them  together 
by  the  ears,  and  makes  the  difference  ten  times  greater  than  it  was 
before." — GALLY. 

The  Stoic  School  was  so  called  from  the  Painted  Portico 
(stoa)  at  Athens,  where  its  founder  ZENO,  the  Cyprian,  taught 
for  fifty-eight  years  (318-260  BrC.).  It  was  based  on  high 
moral  principles,  but  was  not  free  from  errors.  Duty  was  all 
in  this  philosophy ;  virtue  alone,  happiness.  Mastery  of  self, 
contempt  alike  for  pleasure  and  pain,  were  leading  doctrines. 

Fate  governed  the  world,  even  God  himself.  Yet  Zeno  did 
not  allow  this  doctrine  to  excuse  shortcomings  or  interfere 


254  GRECIAN   LITERATURE. 

with  individual  responsibility.  When  his  slave,  detected  in 
theft,  besought  exemption  from  chastisement  on  the  plea  that 
it  was  fated  for  him  to  steal,  he  replied,  "  Yes,  and  it  was  also 
fated  for  you  to  be  flogged." 

Suicide,  in  Zeno's  creed,  was  justifiable  when  a  man  had 
outlived  his  usefulness,  and  the  great  philosopher  practised  as 
he  preached ;  for,  having  received  a  severe  fall  at  the  age  of 
ninety-eight,  he  quietly  remarked,  "I  obey  the  summons,"  and 
went  and  hanged  himself. 

Zeno  enjoyed  public  confidence  at  home  as  well  as  the  re- 
spect of  foreign  princes ;  among  his  disciples  were  enrolled 
some  of  the  greatest  men  of  Greece  and  Rome.  Nothing  re- 
mains of  his  writings. 

The  Cynics  derived  their  name  from  the  gymnasium  of  Cyn- 
osarges,  near  the  Lyceum,  where  they  gathered  to  listen  to  An- 
tisthenes,  a  pupil  of  Socrates.  This  extremist  perverted  his 
master's  theory  of  virtue,  which  he  made  to  consist  in  a  com- 
fortless life,  a  renunciation  of  pleasure,  and  a  contemptuous 
and  even  shameless  independence  of  manners.  Yet  Socrates 
saw  pride  even  through  the  holes  of  Antisthenes'  shabby  robe. 

Antisthenes  was  not  much  in  metaphysics.  He  was  puzzled 
by  abstract  generalizations,  and  to  Plato's  Idealism  opposed 
an  uncompromising  Realism.  "  Plato,"  he  said,  "I  can  see  a 
horse,  and  I  can  see  a  man,  but  horsehood  and  manhood  I 
cannot  see." — "True,"  replied  Plato,  "you  have  the  eye  that 
can  see  a  horse  and  a  man  ;  but  the  eye  which  can  see  horse- 
hood  and  manhood  you  lack." 

Of  the  many  works  of  this  first  Cynic  philosopher,  scarcely 
anything  is  left.  They  were  probably  steeped  in  gall,  for  his 
powers  of  sarcasm  were  unsurpassed ;  he  dealt  trenchant 
blows  at  what  he  considered  folly,  wherever  he  found  it.  He 
ridiculed  the  want  of  judgment  displayed  at  Athens  in  the 
selection  of  generals,  by  counselling  the  Athenians  to  vote 
their  asses  horses.  "  That  is  absurd,"  was  the  reply.  "  No 


THE    CYNIC    PHILOSOPHY.  255 

more  so,"  he  retorted,  "than  to  think  you  have  made  igno- 
ramuses generals,  by  simply  lifting  up  the  hand."  Once  when 
annoyed  at  a  speaker's  dilating  on  the  joys  of  the  future  state, 
he  abruptly  demanded,  "  Why  don't  you  die,  then  ?" 

His  successor,  DIOGENES,  carried  out  the  role.  Soured  by 
the  disgraceful  failure  of  his  father,  he  turned  to  the  ascetic 
philosophy  of  the  Cynics,  and  took  a  morbid  pleasure  in  out- 
raging society  by  his  infringements  on  decency.  His  satirical 
remarks,  which  cut  to  the  quick,  earned  him  the  title  of  "  the 
Dog"  by  way  of  eminence.  He  slept  wherever  he  happened 
to  be,  on  stoops  or  in  a  tub ;  and  eschewing  artificial  wants, 
he  felt  so  rebuked  when  he  saw  a  boy  drinking  through  his 
hands  and  receiving  his  pottage  in  a  hollowed  loaf,  that  he 
threw  away  his  cup  and  platter. 

Into  such  snarling,  insolent,  and  offensive  misanthropes  did 
the  Cynics  degenerate,  that  the  name  of  their  sect  was  popu- 
larly traced  to  the  dogs  (in  Greek  cymes]  they  so  much  resem- 
bled.— To  this  complexion  did  the  noble  philosophy  of  Soc- 
rates come  at  last. 

ORATORY. 

Political  Eloquence,  like  the  drama,  history,  and  philosophy, 
attained  perfection  in  the  golden  age.  Public  speaking  was 
a  natural  accomplishment  of  the  Greeks ;  and  from  the  days 
of  Homer  down,  soldiers,  legislators,  and  statesmen,  had  been 
distinguished  as  orators.  In  Pericles,  who  made  eloquence  a 
study,  we  are  introduced  to  one  of  the  world's  most  polished 
speakers. 

But  the  cultivation  of  rhetoric  and  oratory  as  an  art  was  first 
popularized  by  Gorgias  of  Leonti'ni  (see  Map,  p.  304),  who 
about  427  B.C.  transplanted  it  from  Sicily  and  saw  it  flourish 
in  Athenian  soil  as  it  had  never  flourished  before.  Gorgias 
founded  a  school  of  eloquence  at  Athens,  which  was  thronged 
by  the  great  men  of  the  time,  eager  to  acquire  the  persuasive 
arts  of  the  Sicilian  teacher.  Thus  rhetoric  became  a  fashion- 


25 G  GRECIAN  LITERATURE. 

able  accomplishment ;  and  to  such  account  was  it  turned  by 
the  taste  and  genius  of  the  Attic  Greeks  that  they  soon  pro- 
duced the  greatest  orators  of  history. 

Among  these  was  the  graceful  and  elegant  LYSIAS  (lish'e-as 
— 458-378  B.C.),  compared  by  Quintilian  to  a  pure  fountain 
rather  than  a  great  river ;  and  Js^us,  the  leading  barrister  of 
Athens  and  preceptor  of  Demosthenes.  Greater  than  either 
as  a  teacher  and  writer  of  orations  for  others,  though  through 
timidity  he  rarely  appeared  in  public  himself,  was  ISOCRATES, 
founder  of  a  school  from  which  Cicero  said,  "as  from  the 
Trojan  horse,  princes  only  proceeded  ;"  to  use  his  own  figure, 
he  was  a  whetstone  which  imported  the  power  of  cutting  to 
other  things,  but  cut  not  itself.  Finally,  to  this  category  be- 
longed the  great  rivals  ^Eschines  and  Demosthenes,  foremost 
of  the  Attic  orators. 

Demosthenes  (384-322  B.C. — it  is  worth  remembering  that 
his  dates  are  identical  with  Aristotle's)  stands  alone  in  the 
power  of  his  eloquence.  Born  in  Attica,  he  was  left  fatherless 
at  the  age  of  seven,  but  inherited  a  large  fortune.  The  bulk 
of  this  his  guardians  made  away  with ;  although  they  engaged 
the  best  talent  in  the  land  to  superintend  the  education  of  their 
ward.  When  Demosthenes  arrived  at  his  majority,  he  brought 
suit  against  them,  and  wrote  his  maiden  speeches  with  such 
skill  as  to  obtain  a  judgment  in  his  favor. 

The  study  of  oratory  now  became  the  passion  of  his  life. 
By  indomitable  perseverance  he  overcame  what  to  many  would 
have  proved  insuperable  difficulties — shortness  of  breath,  a 
sickly  constitution,  a  weak  and  stammering  utterance,  and 
awkwardness  in  gesticulating.  He  practised  on  the  seashore 
till  his  voice  rose  clear  and  full  above  the  breakers ;  he  placed 
pebbles  in  his  mouth  while  declaiming  to  correct  his  articula- 
tion, and  improved  his  breathing  by  running  up  steep  hills. 
A  friendly  mirror  helped  him  to  make  his  gestures  effective ; 
and  he  spent  months  at  a  time  in  a  room  underground,  occu- 


DEMOSTHENES.  257 

pied  in  study,  or  in  copying  the  history  of  Thucydides  to 
strengthen  his  style.  Thus,  in  spite  of  every  natural  disad- 
vantage, he  placed  himself  by  his  own  efforts  "  at  the  head  of 
all  mighty  masters  of  speech."  He  lived  to  receive  the  hom- 
age, not  only  of  those  Athenians  who  had  hissed  the  early 
performances  of  "the  stammerer,"  but  of  crowds  gathered 
from  all  quarters  of  Greece. 

Conciseness,  precision,  clearness,  compact  reasoning,  power 
of  invective,  and  vehemence  compared  to  that  of  a  torrent 
carrying  everything  before  it,  were  characteristic  of  the  ora- 
tions of  Demosthenes.  Sixty-one  of  these  (probably  not  all 
genuine)  are  still  extant,  the  most  famous  being  the  twelve 
"  Philippics,"  delivered  against  Philip  of  Macedon,  who  was 
insidiously  plotting  the  subversion  of  Grecian  liberty.  De- 
mosthenes penetrated  his  designs,  disdained  his  bribes,  and 
for  fourteen  years  struggled  nobly  against  him.  His  impas- 
sioned utterances  at  last  roused  the  slumbering  patriotism  of 
his  countrymen,  and,  joined  by  the  Thebans,  they  met  Philip 
at  Chaeronea — but  only  to  be  hopelessly  defeated.  The  fate 
of  Greece  was  sealed.  Demosthenes  fled  from  the  field  and 
escaped  to  Athens,  where  he  delivered  the  funeral  eulogy  on 
the  slain. 

The  success  of  Philip  strengthened  the  Macedonian  sympa- 
thizers in  Athens,  at  the  head  of  whom  was  the  orator  ^schi- 
nes,  accused  by  Demosthenes  of  being  in  the  pay  of  Macedon. 
When,  therefore,  Ctesiphon  proposed  that  the  services  of  De- 
mosthenes be  rewarded  with  a  golden  crown,  ^Eschines  op- 
posed the  measure.  After  a  delay  of  six  years,  during  which 
we  may  be  sure  both  orators  strained  every  nerve  to  prepare 
for  the  decisive  struggle,  the  final  contest  took  place  before  a 
vast  and  excited  concourse.  The  fiery  vigor  of  Demosthenes, 
in  the  most  splendid  effort  of  ancient  eloquence,  swept  away 
like  feathers  the  arguments,  the  wit,  the  sarcasm,  of  his  oppo- 
nent ;  y£schines  was  utterly  discomfited. 

L2 


258  GRECIAN   LITERATURE. 

The  elaborate  speech  "  On  the  Crown  "  is  the  masterpiece 
of  Demosthenes  ;  we  give  parts  of  the  peroration. 

FROM  DEMOSTHENES'  ORATION  ON  THE  CROWN. 

"  Do  you  then,  -iEschines,  ask  me  for  what  merit  I  claim  public 
honors  ?  I  will  tell  you.  It  is  because,  when  all  tbe  statesmen  in 
Greece  had  been  corrupted,  beginning  with  yourself,  first  by  Philip 
and  then  by  Alexander,  I  was  never  induced  nor  tempted  by  oppor- 
tunity, nor  by  fair  speeches,  nor  by  the  magnitude  of  proffered  bribes, 
nor  by  hope,  nor  by  fear,  nor  by  favor,  nor  by  any  other  considera- 
tion, to  swerve  a  hairVbreadth  from  the  course  which  I  believed  to 
be  right  and  for  the  public  good.  Never,  in  weighing  my  public 
counsels,  have  I,  like  you,  inclined  to  the  scale  in  which  hung  iny 
private  advantage  ;  but  all  that  I  have  done  has  been  done  straight- 
forwardly, incorruptly,  and  with  singleness  of  purpose.  While  I  have 
been  charged  with  affairs  of  greater  magnitude  than  any  of  my  con- 
temporaries, the  whole  of  my  administration  has  been  pure,  honest, 
disinterested.  These  are  the  grounds  on  which  I  claim  to  be  hon- 
ored. 

As  for  the  fortifications  and  intreuchments  which  you  have  sneered 
at,  I  deem  myself  entitled  to  thanks  and  gratitude  on  that  behalf. 
Wherefore  should  I  not  ?  But  I  am  far,  indeed,  from  placing  such 
services  in  the  same  category  with  my  general  policy.  It  is  not  with 
stones  nor  with  bricks  that  I  have  fortified  Athens;  it  is  not  upon 
such  works  that  I  chiefly  value  myself;  but  if  you  would  truly  ap- 
preciate my  fortifications,  you  will  find  them  in  arms,  cities,  territo- 
ries, harbors,  ships,  and  men  to  avail  themselves  of  these  advantages. 
These  are  the  outworks  which  I  have  thrown  up  before  Attica,  ac- 
cording to  the  best  of  human  foresight ;  by  these  have  I  fortified  the 
whole  country,  not  merely  the  circuit  of  the  Pirreus  and  the  city. 
Nor  was  I  defeated  by  the  calculations  or  preparations  of  Philip  ;  far 
from  it :  but  the  generals  and  the  forces  of  our  allies  were  defeated 
by  Fortune.  *  *  * 

If  my  measures  had  been  successful — O  heaven  and  earth!  wo 
must,  beyond  all  question,  have  become  a  first-rate  power,  as  we  well 
deserved  to  be.  If  they  have  failed,  we  have  left  to  us  our  honor. 
No  reproach  can  attach  to  the  state  or  to  its  policy,  but  Fortune  must 
bear  the  blame,  who  has  so  ordered  our  affairs.  Never,  never,  will 
the  patriotic  citizen  desert  his  country's  cause,  and,  hiring  himself 
to  her  foes,  watch  his  opportunities  of  injuring  her;  never  will  he 
malign  the  statesman  who  in  his  utterances  and  his  measures  has 
consistently  maintained  his  country's  honor;  nor  will  he  nurse  and 
treasure  up  resentment  for  private  wrongs ;  nor,  lastly,  will  he 
maintain  a  dishonest  and  a  treacherous  silence,  as  you  have  often 
done.  *  *  * 

No  part,  -lEschines,  have  you  taken  in  any  measure  for  strengthen- 


EXTRACT   FROM   DEMOSTHENES.  259 

ing  the  country's  resources.  What  alliance  has  been  ever  obtained 
for  the  state  through  your  instrumentality?  What  succor?  What 
acquisition  of  good-will  from  others,  or  credit  for  ourselves  ?  What 
embassy  ?  What  public  service  that  has  added  to  our  national  re- 
nown ?  What  public  affairs,  whether  domestic,  Hellenic,  or  foreign, 
have  been  brought  by  you  to  a  successful  issue?  What  ships  have 
you  furnished  ?  What  arms  ?  What  dockyards  ?  What  fortifica- 
tions? What  cavalry?  In  what  one  respect  have  you  been  useful? 
What  pecuniary  contribution  have  you  ever  made  upon  public 
grounds  for  the  benefit  of  either  the  rich  or  the  poor  ?  None. 

You  were  not  deterred  by  your  poverty,  but  by  your  anxiety  to  do 
nothing  opposed  to  the  interests  of  those  for  whose  benefit  all  your 
policy  has  been  designed.  But  what  are  the  occasions  of  your  brill- 
iant displays,  the  exhibition  of  your  youthful  vigor?  When  aught 
is  to  be  spoken  against  your  countrymen,  then  is  your  voice  best 
tuned,  then  is  your  memory  most  accurate ;  then  you  act  your  part 
to  perfection.  *  *  * 

Every  well-affected  citizen,  Athenians,  (in  such  terms  I  am  able  to 
speak  of  myself  least  invidiously)  is  bound  to  possess  two  qualities: 
when  in  authority,  the  fixed  resolve  to  maintain  the  honor  and  pre- 
eminence of  his  country;  under  all  circumstances  and  at  all  times, 
loyalty.  This  Nature  can  command — to  another  power  belong 
strength  and  success.  By  this  spirit  you  find  me  to  have  been  uni- 
formly actuated. 

Observe — never  when  I  was  demanded  for  extradition,  nor  when 
Amphictyouic  suits  were  prosecuted  against  me,  nor  when  threats, 
nor  when  promises  were  brought  to  bear  upon  me,  nor  when  these 
miscreants  were  let  loose  like  wild  beasts  upon  me — never  was  I  in- 
duced to  abandon  one  jot  or  tittle  of  my  loyalty  to  you.  From  first 
to  last  I  took  the  straight  and  true  path  of  statesmanship — that  of 
complete  devotion  to  the  maintenance  and  furtherance  of  the  honor, 
the  power,  and  the  glory  of  my  country.  Never  was  I  beheld  strut- 
ting about  the  Forum,  radiant  with  joy  and  exultation  at  foreign 
success,  gesticulating  congratulations  to  those  who  might  be  expect- 
ed to  report  them  elsewhere.  Nor  have  I  heard  the  tidings  of  our 
good  fortune  with  dismay  and  lamentations,  and  prostration  to  the 
earth,  like  these  impious  men  who  inveigh  against  their  country 
without  perceiving  that  their  invective  is  directed  against  them- 
selves, whose  eyes  are  cast  abroad,  who  felicitate  themselves  on 
foreign  success  purchased  by  the  calamities  of  Greece,  and  avow 
their  anxiety  to  secure  its  permanence. 

Never,  O  ye  Heavenly  Powers!  never  may  such  designs  obtain 
favor  at  your  hands !  Rather,  if  it  be  possible,  inspire  even  these 
men  with  better  thoughts,  and  turn  their  hearts  ;  but  if  their  moral 
plague  be  incurable,  cut  them  off  from  among  us,  and  drive  them 
forth  to  destruction,  sure  and  swift,  over-land  and  over  sea:  while 
to  us  who  are  spared  ye  vouchsafe  the  speediest  deliverauce  from  our 
impending  alarms,  and  abiding  security !" — SIR  ROBERT  COLLIER. 


2GO  GRECIAN   LITERATURE. 

Twice  after  the  reverse  of  Chaeronea  Demosthenes  suc- 
ceeded in  arraying  his.  country  against  Macedon  —  at  the 
assassination  of  Philip  and  on  the  death  of  Alexander. 
When  news  of  Alexander's  decease  reached  Greece,  the  or- 
ator was  in  exile,  having  been  unjustly  convicted  of  taking 
Macedonian  treasure ;  yet  he  did  his  utmost  to  arm  the 
Grecian  cities,  and  was  in  consequence  recalled  to  Athens 
by  the  fickle  people.  But  it  was  all  in  vain. 

At  last,  marked  for  destruction  by  the  Macedonian  regent 
Antip'ater,  and  doomed  to  death  by  his  cowardly  fellow- 
citizens  whose  necks  were  now  under  the  tyrant's  heel,  he 
fled  to  the  temple  of  Neptune  on  Calaure'a  and  there  found 
relief  from  his  troubles  in  a  quill  of  poison  which  he  kept 
ready  for  an  emergency.  In  Demosthenes,  Athens  lost  an 
incorruptible  patriot — antiquity,  one  of  her  noblest  charac- 
ters. The  Athenians  erected  to  his  memory  a  brazen  statue 
on  which  was  inscribed  : — 

"  Had  you  for  Greece  been  strong,  as  wise  yon  were, 
The  Macedonians  bad  not  conquered  her.'' 

./Eschines  (389-314  B.C.),  of  whose  early  life  little  is  known, 
after  his  defeat  at  the  hands  of  Demosthenes,  went  into  exile. 
We  are  told  that  his  victorious  rival  magnanimously  forgave 
him,  and  even  offered  him  money  for  the  journey ;  which  led 
^Eschines  to  exclaim  :  "  How  I  regret  leaving  a  country 
where  I  have  found  an  enemy  so  generous  that  I  must  de- 
spair of  ever  meeting  with  a  friend  who  shall  be  like  him !" 

^Eschines  afterward  established  himself  as  a  teacher  of 
oratory  in  Rhodes.  Here  he  once  repeated  to  his  pupils  his 
famous  oration  against  Ctesiphon  in  the  contest  for  the  crown, 
which  filled  them  with  wonder  that  so  able  an  orator  should 
have  been  defeated.  But  when  at  their  request  he  read  the 
reply  of  Demosthenes,  his  audience  rose  to  their  feet  with 
eager  acclamations  ;  and  the  orator,  forgetting  all  jealousy  in 


THE    GOLDEN   AGE 


261 


his  admiration,  cried :  "  What  would  you  have  said,  had  you 
heard  the  wild  beast  himself  roaring  it  out  ?" 

The  oration  against  Ctesiphon  is  one  of  three  familiarly 
known  in  antiquity  as  "  the  Three  Graces  " — a  title  indicative 
of  the  refinement  and  easy  flow  of  the  author's  style,  deficient 
as  it  was  in  the  energy  and  vehemence  of  his  great  rival. 


MINOR    DRAMATIC    AND    LYRIC    POETS. 


ION  (flourished  450  B.C.) :  a  history  and 
lyrics,  as  well  as  tragedies ;  called 
"the  Eastern  Star,"  from  the  first 
words  of  an  ode  he  was  composing 
when  death  overtook  him. 

ACHJEUS  (born  484  B.C.) :  tragic  and 
satirical  pieces. 

AG'ATHON  the  Athenian :  received  his 
first  tragic  prize,  416  B.C. ;  his  mas- 
terpiece was  "  the  Flower." 

CALLIS'TRATUS  (flourished  420  B.C.): 
author  of  the  convivial  ode  celebrat- 


ing the  memory  of  1  larmodius  and 
Aristogiton  (p.  158). 

CRATI'NUS  (519-423  B.C.):  called  the 
Cup-lover  from  his  excesses;  21  com- 
edies; 9  prizes;  with  his  last  com- 
edy, "  the  Wine  -  flask,"  he  gained 
the  first  prize,  triumphing  over  "  the 
Clouds"  of  Aristophanes. 

EU'POLIS:  15  plays;  his  first  comedy 
was  represented  429  B.C. 

CRATES  (450  B.C.) :  14  comedies ;  the 
first  poet  to  represent  drunkenness 
on  the  Athenian  stage. 


METON,  the  Athenian  astronomer  (flourished  430  B.C.) :  founder  of  the  Lunar 
Cycle  of  19  solar  years,  which  he  discovered  to  be  nearly  equal  to  235  revolu- 
tions of  the  moon  round  the  earth.  From  the  "  Metonic  Cycle "  the  Greeks 
computed  their  festivals;  it  is  still  used  by  the  Western  churches  in  fixing 
Easter. 

HIPPOC'RATES  (460-357  B.C.),  born  on  the  island  of  Cos,  "  the  Father  of  Medi- 
cine :"  knew  little  of  anatomy ;  discovered  the  critical  days  in  fevers. 


NOTES    ON    GREEK    EDUCATION,  ETC. 

Education  recognized  as  all-important  in  ancient  Greece,  and  even  made  com- 
pulsory by  the  great  lawgivers.  In  Homer's  time,  children  taught  obedience, 
respect  for  the  aged,  and  modesty  of  deportment ;  sons  instructed  in  the  use  of 
weapons  and  gymnastic  exercises ;  daughters,  in  domestic  economy  and  virtue. 
Homer's  epics  long  the  chief  text-books  on  all  subjects. 

Reading  and  writing,  accomplishments  of  the  earliest  periods.  An  ignorant 
Greek  an  anomaly.  Even  among  the  Spartans,  who  affected  contempt  for  lit- 


262  GRECIAN   LITERATURE. 

erature,  reading  and  writing  were  practised.  The  magistrates  and  their  officers 
were  provided  with  wooden  cylinders  of  the  same  size;  when  one  desired  to 
communicate,  he  wound  a  strip  of  parchment  round  his  cylinder  and  wrote  his 
message  thereon ;  then,  removing  the  strip,  he  sent  it  to  the  other  party,  who 
was  enabled  to  read  it  by  rolling  it  upon  his  own  cylinder  iu  the  same  folds. 

In  the  golden  age,  common  schools  were  the  glory  of  Greece ;  the  rudiments 
of  education  everywhere  taught.  The  importance  of  grammar  urged  by  Plato, 
who  was  the  first  to  explain  the  difference  between  nouns  and  verbs ;  articles  and 
conjunctions  distinguished  by  Aristotle,  and  also  differences  of  number  and  case. 
The  foundation  of  scientific  grammar  laid  by  the  Stoics,  who  recognized  eight 
parts  of  speech.  Those  who  could  afford  it  completed  their  education  at  the 
Lyceum,  Academy,  or  some  other  celebrated  school,  often  paying  most  extrava- 
gantly for  instruction  in  rhetoric  and  philosophy.  Some  teachers  charged  their 
pupils  as  much  as  $2,000  apiece  for  a  course  of  lectures.  Foreign  languages 
were  never  studied  by  the  Greeks.  . 

Many  private  libraries  were  established  during  the  golden  age,  but  no  circu- 
lating or  public  libraries.  As  early  as  400  B.C.  Athens  carried  on  quite  a  trade 
in  manuscripts,  one  quarter  of  the  market-place  being  called  "the  book-mart." 
Books  were  generally  abundant  and  cheap,  being  copied  by  slaves,  but  rare 
works  were  very  costly,  Plato  paid  $1,600  for  three  books,  and  Aristotle  $3,000 
for  a  few  volumes. 

Wooden  tablets  for  accounts  sold  for  18  cts.  each  about  400  B.C.  A  small 
blank  book  of  two  wax  tablets  was  worth  less  than  a  penny.  Pencils  are  said 
to  have  been  invented  408  B.C.  by  Apollodorus,  the  self-styled  "Prince  of 
Painters." 


CHAPTER  VI 
THE  ALEXANDRIAN  PERIOD. 

Decline  of  Letters. — The  triumph  of  the  Doric  states  over 
Athens  in  the  Peloponnesian  War  (431-404  B.C.)  gave  the 
first  blow  to  the  intellectual  power  of  Greece.  Literary  de- 
cay forthwith  set  in  ;  its  progress  was  hastened  by  internal 
dissensions,  and  completed  when  liberty  was  hopelessly  ex- 
tinguished by  Philip  of  Macedon  and  his  successors. 

Alexander  indeed  benefited  the  East  by  introducing  the 
Greek  language  and  culture,  and  building  magnificent  cities 
in  return  for  her  hordes  of  barbarians  slain ;  but  his  policy 


THE   ALEXANDRIAN  PERIOD.  263 

left  out  of  view  the  interests  of  Greece.  While  Athens  re- 
mained the  seminary  of  Europe  for  several  centuries  after  his 
death,  Alexandria,  founded  by  him  at  the  mouth  of  the  Nile, 
became  the  intellectual  as  well  as  commercial  capital  of  the 
world.  From  this  city,  the  period  we  are  about  to  consider 
derives  its  name.  It  extends  from  the  death  of  Alexander 
the  Great  (323  B.C.)  to  the  conquest  of  Egypt  by  the  Romans 
(30  B.C.). 

The  Alexandrian  Age  produced  no  grand  masterpieces. 
No  glorious  struggle  for  freedom  inspired  the  historian ;  there 
was  no  further  need  for  the  efforts  of  the  orator ;  science  and 
criticism  flourished  instead  of  poetry ;  and  a  host  of  imitators 
usurped  the  place  of  the  mighty  originals  of  the  olden  time. 
The  national  taste  had  sadly  deteriorated;  an  affected  ob- 
scurity was  fashionable ;  and  gaudy  tinsel  was  more  highly 
valued  than  true  gold. 

Yet  one  bright  bloom  gladdened  this  waste — Idyllic  Poe- 
try, which  expanded  into  a  perfect  flower  in  the  hands  of 
Theoc'ritus  the  Sicilian.  A  new  school  of  comedy  was  also 
established  by  Menander  and  Phile'mon  ;  and  many  seeds  of 
Greek  genius  that  Alexander  had  scattered  broadcast  over 
the  earth  sprung  up  on  foreign  soil,  and  yielded  fruit — but 
fruit  inferior  to  that  ripened  under  its  native  sun. 

DRAMATIC   POETRY. 

The  New  Comedy  dealt  with  the  follies  and  vices  of  society 
at  large,  not  with  individuals,  the  actor  no  longer  venturing, 
since  the  downfall  of  political  liberty,  to  imitate  Aristophanes 
in  representing  living  characters.  Its  simple  plot  was  gener- 
ally based  on  some  love-intrigue.  Though  the  broad  fun  of 
the  Old  Comedy  was  wanting,  quiet  humor  contrasted  hap- 
pily with  pathos,  the  grave  with  the  gay;  the  audience,  pro- 
voked by  turns  to  laughter  and  to  tears,  were  all  the  time 
learning  some  useful  principle  or  moral  lesson.  Cicero  styled 


264  GRECIAN  LITEEATUEE. 

the  New  Comedy  "the  mirror  of  real  life." — The  chorus  now 
ceased  to  take  part  in  the  representation,  and  the  play  was 
divided  into  acts  separated  by  intervals  of  time. 

Of  the  sixty-four  poets  associated  by  the  ancients  with  the 
New  Comedy,  the  greatest  were  Menander  and  Philemon, 
both  citizens  of  Athens,  though  Philemon  was  foreign-born. 
Not  until  both  had  passed  from  the  stage  of  life  was  the 
meed  of  superior  excellence  awarded  to  Menander. 

Menander  (341-291  B.C.)  dramatized  love-stories  for  the 
young  ivith  elegance  and  dignity ;  while  the  undercurrent  of 
wisdom  that  flowed  through  his  plays  recommended  them  to 
the  old.  Out  of  a  hundred  comedies  of  which  he  was  the  au- 
thor, only  a  few  fragments  are  left ;  but  these  Goethe  pro- 
nounced "  invaluable."  So  perfectly  did  he  delineate  char- 
acter that  Aristophanes,  the  grammarian,  asked  whether  Me- 
nander copied  life,  or  life  Menander. 

His  talent  early  displayed  itself,  securing  him  a  crown 
while  he  was  yet  a  mere  youth,  but  subjecting  him  to  the  dis- 
pleasure of  his  defeated  rivals,  who  accused  him  of  presump- 
tion in  vying  with  experienced  poets.  Menander  replied  to 
the  charge  by  appearing  on  the  stage  with  an  armful  of  new- 
born puppies,  which  he  cast  into  a  tub  of  water.  Bidding  the 
audience  mark  how  they  swam,  he  exclaimed  :  "  You  ask  me, 
Athenians,  how  at  my  years  I  can  have  the  knowledge  of  life 
required  in  the  dramatist ;  I  ask  you  under  what  master  and 
in  what  school  these  creatures  learned  to  swim  ?" 

Despite  his  superior  merit,  however,  Menander  obtained 
the  dramatic  prize  but  eight  times,  owing  to  the  greater  influ- 
ence of  his  rival  Philemon  with  the  masses.  It  is  stated  that 
this  injustice  at  length  led  the  poet  to  drown  himself.  His 
plays  long  served  as  models  to  the  comic  stage.  The  Ro- 
mans, Plautus  and  Terence,  helped  themselves  freely  from  his 
treasury,  and  through  their  dramas  our  modern  comedy  may 
be  traced  back  to  Menander  himself. 


DEAMATISTS   OF   THE   ALEXANDRIAN  AGE.  265 


FRAGMENTS   FROM   MENANDER. 

"When  tliou  would'st  know  thyself,  what  man  thou  art, 
Look  at  the  tombstones  as  thou  passest  by  : 
Within  those  monuments  lie  bones  and  dust 
Of  monarchs,  tyrants,  sages,  men  whose  pride 
Rose  high  because  of  wealth,  or  noble  blood, 
Or  haughty  soul,  or  loveliness  of  limb ; 
Yet  none  of  these  things  strove  for  them  'gainst  time : 
One  common  death  hath  ta'en  all  mortal  men. 
See  thou  to  this,  and  know  thee  who  thou  art." 

SYMONDS. 

"  The  sum  of  all  philosophy  is  this — 
Thou  art  a  man,  than  whom  there  breathes  no  creature 
More  liable  to  sudden  rise  and  fall." 

"  Of  all  bad  things  with  which  mankind  are  cursed, 
Their  own  bad  tempers  surely  are  the  worst." 

"The  maxim  '  Know  thyself  does  not  suffice; 
Know  others! — know  them  well — that's  my  advice." 

Philemon  exhibited  the  first  of  his  ninety-seven  comedies 
when  Menander  was  a  boy  of  eleven.  Nine  years  later  Me- 
nandei's  first  piece  appeared,  and  the  rivalry  between  the 
poets  began.  In  their  subsequent  contests,  Philemon  some- 
times stooped  to  unworthy  means  to  defeat  his  opponent ; 
still,  that  his  countrymen  really  admired  him  is  evident  from 
the  legend  current  of  his  death.  As  he  was  concluding  a 
comedy  in  his  ninety-ninth  year,  nine  beautiful  maidens  were 
said  to  have  entered  his  chamber  and  beckoned  him  away. 
They  were  the  Muses,  about  to  wing  their  flight  from  Athens 
forever,  and  with  them  departed  the  soul  of  Philemon — the 
last  of  the  Athenian  poets. 

FRAGMENTS  FROM  PHILEMON. 

"Have  faith  in  God,  and  fear ;  seek  not  to  know  him, 
For  thou  wilt  gain  naught  else  beyond  thy  search  : 
Whether  he  is  or  is  not,  shun  to  ask : 
As  one  who  is,  and  sees  thee,  always  fear  him." 


266  GRECIAN    LITERATURE. 

"  All  are  not  just  because  they  do  no  wrong, 
But  be  wbo  will  not  wrong  nie  when  be  may, 
He  is  tbe  truly  just.     I  praise  not  tbem 
Wbo,  in  their  petty  dealings,  pilfer  not ; 
But  him  whose  conscience  spurns  a  secret  fraud, 
When  he  might  plunder  and  defy  surprise. 
His  be  the  praise  who,  looking  down  with  scorn 
On  the  false  judgment  of  the  partial  herd, 
Consults  his  own  clear  heart,  and  boldly  dares 
To  be,  not  to  be  thought,  an  honest  man." 

PASTORAL  POETRY. 

Theocritus  (flourished  283-263  B.C.).  —  The  pastoral,  or 
bucolic,  poetry  of  the  Greeks,  which  originated  in  the  rude 
songs  of  Laconian  and  Sicilian  shepherds,  was  matured  and 
elevated  into  a  new  department  of  polite  composition  in  the 
idyls  of  Theocritus.  Born  in  Sicily,  as  he  tells  us  in  an  epi- 
gram intended  to  preface  his  works,  he  was  tempted  to  the 
court  of  Ptolemy  Philadelphus.  Here  his  refreshing  pictures 
of  rural  scenery  were  the  delight  of  the  Alexandrians,  shut  in 
by  the  walls  of  their  city  from  the  beauties  of  nature.  The- 
ocritus eventually  returned  to  Sicily,  and  ended  his  days  amid 
his  native  fields. 

The  poetry  of  Theocritus  exhibits  originality  and  refine- 
ment, the  Doric  dialect  in  which  he  wrote  lending  the  charm 
of  picturesqueness  to  his  descriptions.  Pope  commends  him 
for  simplicity  and  truthfulness  to  nature;  Dryden,  for  "the 
inimitable  tenderness  of  his  passions"  and  the  skill  with 
which  he  disguised  his  art.  As  a  delineator  of  natural  scen- 
ery, he  has  no  superior  among  ancient  or  modern  poets. — 
There  are  extant  thirty  idyls  and  twenty-two  epigrams  of 
this  poet.  We  present  below  Idyl  VIII. 

THE  TRIUMPH  OF  DAPHNIS. 

"  Daphnis,  the  gentle  herdsman,  met  once,  as  rumor  tells, 
Menalcaa  making  with  his  flock  the  circle  of  the  fells.  [play  5 

Both  chins  were  gilt  with  coming  beards,  both  lads  could  sing  and 
Mcnalcas  glanced  at  Daphnis,  and  thus  was  heard  to  say: 


EXTRACT  FROM  THEOCRITUS.  267 

'Art  thou  for  siuging,  Daplmis,  lord  of  the  lowing  kiue? 
I  say  my  songs  are  Letter,  by  what  thou  wilt,  thau  thine.' 
Then  in  his  turn  spake  Daphuis,  and  thus  he  made  reply : 
'  O  shepherd  of  the  fleecy  flock,  thou  pipest  clear  and  high ; 
But  come  what  will,  Meualcas,  thou  ne'er  wilt  sing  as  I.' 

MEXALCAS. 
This  art  thou  fain  to  ascertain,  and  risk  a  bet  with  me  ? 

DAPHXIS. 
This  I  full  fain  would  ascertain,  and  risk  a  bet  with  thee. 

MEXALCAS. 
But  what,  for  champions  such  as  we,  would  seem  a  fitting  prize  T 

DAPHXIS. 
I  stake  a  calf:  stake  thou  a  lamb,  its  mother's  self  in  size. 

MEXALCAS. 

A  lamb  ni  venture  never :  for  aye,  at  close  of  day, 

Father  and  mother  count  the  flock,  and  passing  strict  are  they. 

DAPHXIS. 

Then  what  shall  be  the  victor's  fee  ?     What  wager  wilt  thou  lay  ? 

MEXALCAS. 

A  pipe  discoursing  through  nine  mouths  I  made,  full  fair  to  view; 
The  wax  is  white  thereon,  the  line  of  this  and  that  edge  true. 
I'll  risk  it :  risk  my  father's  own  is  more  than  I  dare  do. 

DAPIIXIS. 

A  pipe  discoursing  through  nine  mouths,  and  fair,  hath  Daplmis  too; 
The  wax  is  white  thereon,  the  line  of  this  and  that  edge  true. 
But  yesterday  I  made  it :  this  finger  feels  the  pain 
Still,  where  indeed  the  rifted  reed  hath  cut  it  clean  in  twain. 
But  who  shall  be  our  umpire  ?  who  listen  to  our  strain  ? 

MEXALCAS. 

Suppose  we  hail  yon  goatherd ;  him  at  whose  horned  herd  now 
The  dog  is  barking — yonder  dog  with  white  upon  his  brow. 

Then  out  they  called :  the  goatherd  marked  them,  and  np  came  he ; 
Then  out  they  sang;  the  goatherd  their  umpire  fain  would  be. 
To  shrill  Menalcas'  lot  it  fell  to  start  the  woodland  lay : 
Then  Daplmis  took  it  up.     And  thus  Menalcas  led  the  way. 


2G8  GRECIAN  LITEKATUEE. 


MEXALCAS. 

Ye  god-created  vales  and  streams !     Oh !  if  Menalcas  e'er 

Piped  aught  of  pleasant  music  in  your  ears ; 
Then  pasture,  nothing  loath,  his  lambs ;  and  let  young  Daphnis  fare 

No  worse,  should  he  stray  hither  with  his  steers. 

DAPIIXIS. 

Ye  joy-abounding  lawns  and  springs !     If  Daphnis  sang  you  e'er 
Such  songs  as  ne'er  from  nightingale  have  flowed ; 

Lend  to  his  herd  your  fatness ;  and  let  Menalcas  share 
Like  plenty,  should  he  wend  along  this  road. 

MEXALCAS. 

'Tis  springtide  all  and  greenness,  and  all  the  udders  teem 

With  milk,  and  all  things  young  have  life  anew, 
Where  my  sweet  maiden  wanders:  but  parched  and  withered  seem, 

WThen  she  departeth,  lawn  and  shepherd  too. 

DAPHXIS. 

There  sheep  and  goats  twin-burdened  abound,  and  honey-bees 

Peopling  the  hives,  and  oaks  of  statelier  growth, 
Where  falls  my  darling's  footstep  :  but  hungriness  shall  seize, 

When  she  departeth,  herd  and  herdsman  both. 

MEXALCAS. 

Storms  are  the  fruit-tree's  bane ;  the  brook's,  a  summer  hot  and  dry; 

The  stag's,  a  woven  net ;  a  gin,  the  dove's ; 
Mankind's,  a  soft  sweet  maiden.     Others  have  pined  ere  I: 

Zeus !  Father !  hast  not  thou  thy  lady-loves  ? 

Thus  far,  in  alternating  strains,  the  lads  their  woes  rehearsed : 
Then  each  one  gave  a  closing  stave.     Thus  sang  Meualcas  first : — 

MEXALCAS. 

O  spare,  good  wolf,  my  weanlings !  their  milky  mothers  spare ! 
Harm  not  the  little  lad  who  hath  so  many  in  his  care  ! 
What,  Firefly,  is  thy  sleep  so  deep  ?     It  ill  befits  a  hound, 
When  ranging  with  his  master,  to  slumber  over-sound. 
And,  wethers,  of  this  tender  grass  take,  nothing  coy,  your  fill : 
So,  when  the  after-math*  shall  come,  will  none  be  weak  or  ill. 
So  !  so !  feed  on,  that  ye  be  full,  that  not  an  udder  fail : 
Part  of  the  milk  shall  rear  the  lambs,  and  part  shall  fill  my  paiL 

Then  Daphuis  flung  a  carol  out,  as  of  a  nightingale : — 


*  Second  crop  of  grass. 


PASTORAL   POETRY.  269 

DAPHNIS. 

Mo  from  her  grot  but  yesterday  a  girl  of  haughty  brow 
Spied  as  I  passed  her  with  my  kine,  aud  said, '  How  fair  art  thou!' 
I  gave  for  answer  riot  so  much  as  one  disdainful  word, 
But,  looking  ever  on  the  ground,  paced  onward  with  my  herd. 
For  sweet  the  heifer's  music,  and  sweet  the  heifer's  breath ; 
Sweet  things  to  me  the  youngling  calf,  sweet  things  her  mother  saith ; 
And  sweet  is  sleep  by  summer  brooks  upon  the  breezy  lea : 
And  acorns  they  grace  well  the  oak,  apples  the  apple-tree, 
Her  calves  the  cow ;  the  herdsman,  but  for  his  herd  cares  he. 

So  sang  the  lads ;  and  thereupon  out  spake  the  referee : — 

GOATHERD. 

O  Daphnis  !  lovely  is  thy  voice,  thy  music  sweetly  sung ; 
Such  song  is  pleasanter  to  me  than  honey  on  my  tongue. 
Accept  this  pipe,  for  thou  hast  won.    And,  should  there  be  some  notes 
That  thou  couldst  teach  me,  as  I  plod  alongside  with  my  goats ; 
I'll  give  thee  for  thy  schooling  this  ewe,  that  horns  hath  none : 
Day  after  day  she'll  fill  the  can,  until  the  milk  o'errun. 

Then  how  the  one  lad  laughed,  and  leaped,  and  clapped  his  hands 

for  glee ! 

A  kid  that  bounds  to  meet  its  dam  might  dance  as  merrily. 
Aud  how  the  other  inly  burned,  struck  down  by  his  disgrace ! 
A  maid  first  parting  from  her  home  might  wear  as  sad  a  face. 

Thenceforth  was  Daphnis  champion  of  all  the  country  side : 
Aud  won,  while  yet  in  topmost  youth,  a  Naiad  for  his  bride." 

C.  S.  CALVERLEY. 

Bion  of  Smyrna,  a  contemporary  of  Theocritus,  emigrated 
to  Sicily  for  the  purpose  of  studying  pastoral  poetry  in  its  na- 
tive haunts.  What  little  we  know  respecting  his  life  is  gath- 
ered from  the  elegy  written  by  his  pupil,  the  delicate  and 
graceful  MOSCHUS,  a  bucolic  poet  of  Syracuse  ranked  with 
Theocritus  and  Bion,  but  inferior  to  both.  "  The  Lament  for 
Bion  "  intimates  that  he  died  from  the  effects  of  poison,  ad- 
ministered perhaps  by  jealous  rivals. 

Bion's  love-songs  and  pastorals  are  characterized  by  sweet- 
ness and  finish ;  they  are  less  life-like,  however,  than  those  of 
Theocritus.  The  "Lament  for  Adonis"  is  the  poet's  best 


270  GRECIAN  LITERATURE. 

effort;  but  as  it  is  uninteresting  to  the  general  reader,  we  give 
a  free  paraphrase  of 

THE  BIED-CATCHEK  AND  LOVE. 

A  young  bird-catcher  sat  'ueath  a  wide-spreading  tree, 

Wliero  the  breath  of  the  summer  breeze  sported  free, 

Looking  round  on  the  neighboring  bushes  with  care, 

To  see  if  a  songster  were  lingering  there. 

At  length,  in  the  distance,  he  something  espies — 

A  creature  with  wings  of  unusual  size — 

"  Aha !  what  a  treasure !"  he  joyously  cries ; 

"  To  catch  such  a  bird  would  indeed  be  a  prize !" 
And  then  sets  to  work  with  his  rods  all  together, 
To  take  the  huge  bird  without  spoiling  a  feather. 

But  the  creature,  alarmed,  from  its  perch  quickly  flew ; 
The  boy,  all  excited,  still  kept  it  in  view 
Till  it  lit  on  a  box-tree — then  followed  his  prey  ; 
Alas !  with  a  cry,  it  again  flew  away. 
At  length  he  grew  tired  of  this  profitless  chase, 
And  turned  toward  his  home  with  a  wearisome  pace. 
But  ere  long,  on  the  road,  an  old  farmer  he  met, 
Who  had  taught  him  his  snares  for  the  songsters  to  set. 
And  he  told  how  the  bird  all  his  skill  had  evaded, 
And  to  go  see  this  Avonder  the  farmer  persuaded. 

At  length  they  drew  near ;  in  a  thicket  of  trees, 
Whose  tops  gently  waved  in  the  murmuring  breeze, 
On  a  dwarf  laurel-bush,  on  the  verge  of  the  grove, 
In  beauty  bewitching,  there  sat  errant  Love ! 
His  pinions  hung  prettily  down  by  his  side, 
And  his  features,  the  Cyprian  goddess's  pride, 
Were  as  lovely  as  ever,  more  roguish  by  half, 
For  he  scarce  could  refrain  from  a  boisterous  laugh. 
And  as  soon  as  he  saw  him,  the  husbandman,  smiling, 
Knew  at  once  the  young  Love-god  the  boy  was  beguiling. 

Then  said  he  to  the  boy :  "  Quick,  away  from  this  grove i 
The  bird  thou  art  seeking  is  mischievous  Love ! 
Though  brilliant  his  hues  as  the  butterfly's  wings, 
And  melody  dwells  on  the  strain  that  he  sings, 
Yet  a  dangerous  prize  to  the  catcher  he'll  prove. 
Then  away  with  thy  birdlime,  nor  follow  this  Love ! 
When  he  flies,  seize  thy  chance  and  escape  if  thou  can, 
For  in  vain  wilt  thou  shun  him  when  grown  to  a  man. 

Then  thoii'lt  be  the  bird — he,  the  catcher,  '11  pursue  thee; 

Though  now  he  evades,  then  he'll  quickly  fly  to  thee." 


EXTRACTS   FROM   BION   AND  'MOSCHUS.  271 


LINES  TO  HESPEE. 

"  Hesper,  tbou  golden  ligbt  of  happy  love, 
Hesper,  tbou  boly  pride  of  purple  eve, 
Moon  among  stars,  but  star  beside  tbe  moori, 
Hail,  friend !  and  since  tbe  young  moon  sets  to-night 
Too  soou  below  tbe  mountains,  lend  tby  lamp 
And  guide  me  to  tbe  sbepberd  wbom  I  love. 
No  tbeft  I  purpose ;  no  wayfaring  man 
Belated  would  I  watcb  and  make  my  prey ; 
Love  is  my  goal,  and  Love  bow  fair  it  is, 
When  friend  meets  friend  sole  in  tbe  silent  night, 
Thou  knowest,  Hesper !" — SYMONDS. 


FROM  MOSCHUS'S  LAMENT  FOE  BION. 

"  Ye  mountain  valleys,  pitifully  groan ! 

Elvers  and  Dorian  springs,  for  Biou  weep! 
Ye  plants,  drop  tears  ;  ye  groves,  lamenting  moan ! 
Exhale  your  life,  wan  flowers ;  your  blushes  deep 
In  grief,  anemonies  and  roses,  steep ; 
In  whimpering  murmurs,  hyacinth !  prolong 
The  sad,  sad  woe  tby  lettered  petals  keep ; 
Our  minstrel  sings  no  more  his  friends  among — 
Sicilian  Muses!  now  begin  tbe  doleful  song. 

Ye  nightingales!  that  'mid  thick  leaves  set  loose 
Tbe  gushing  gurgle  of  your  sorrow,  tell 

Tbe  fountains  of  Sicilian  Arethuse 
That  Bion  is  no  more ;  with  Bion  fell 
The  song — the  music  of  the  Dorian  shell. 

Ye  swans  of  Strymon !  now  your  banks  along 

Your  plaintive  throats  with  melting  dirges  swell, 

For  him  who  sang  like  you  the  mournful  song; 
Discourse  of  Bion's  death  the  Thraciau  nymphs  ainoug^- 

Tbe  Dorian  Orpheus,  tell  them  all,  is  dead. 

His  herds  tbe  song  and  darling  herdsman  miss, 
And  oaks,  beneath  whose  shade  be  propped  his  head. 

Oblivion's  ditty  now  he  sings  for  Dis; 

Tbe  melancholy  mountain  silent  is ; 
His  pining  cows  no  longer  wish  to  feed, 

But  moan  for  him  ;  Apollo  wept,  I  wis, 
For  thee,  sweet  Bion  !  and  in  mourning  weed 
Tbe  brotherhood  of  Fauns  and  all  tbe  Satyr  breed. 


272  GRECIAN   LITERATURE. 

The  tears  by  Naiads  slied  are  brimful  bourns ; 

Afflicted  Pan  thy  stifled  music  rues ; 
Loru  Echo  'mid  her  rocks  thy  silence  mourns, 

Nor  with  her  mimic  tones  thy  voice  renews; 

The  flowers  their  bloom,  the  trees  their  fruitage  lose  j 
No  more  their  milk  the  drooping  ewes  supply ; 

The  bees  to  press  their  honey  now  refuse ; 
What  need  to  gather  it  and  lay  it  by, 
When  thy  own  honey-lip,  my  Bion !  thine  is  dry  ?" 

CHAPMAN. 

The  Museum.— While  the  Muses  who  fled  with  the  spirit  of 
Philemon  were  never  induced  to  return  to  Hellas,  in  the  East 
the  Greek  mind,  stimulated  by  the  architectural  wonders,  the 
new  religious  systems,  the  proficiency  in  many  departments 
of  knowledge,  which  it  encountered,  entered  upon  a  new  phase 
of  development.  Alexandria  witnessed  its  proudest  achieve- 
ments in  science. 

This  city  was  embellished  with  temples  and  palaces,  with 
parks,  fountains,  and  monuments,  until  it  eclipsed  in  beauty 
all  others  of  its  time.  Our  interest,  however,  centres  in  its 
marble  Muse'um,  or  Temple  of  the  Muses,  begun  by  the  first 
Ptolemy  and  finished  by  his  son  Philadelphus,  which  sent  forth 
the  greatest  scientists  of  antiquity.  In  its  halls,  those  hunger- 
ing for  knowledge  were  more  than  satisfied  ;  up  and  down  its 
corridors  the  professors  walked  as  they  gave  instruction  ;  while 
its  botanical  and  zoological  gardens  afforded  opportunities  for 
delightful  relaxation.  An  observatory  and  the  best  astronom- 
ical instruments  of  the  day  invited  to  the  study  of  the  heavens, 
and  a  dissecting-room  was  at  the  disposal  of  the  anatomist. 
Chemical  investigations  were  facilitated  by  a  laboratory,  where 
thus  early  the  science  of  alchemy  was  born,  and  Philadelphus 
himself  eagerly  experimented  in  search  of  the  elixir  of  life. 
To  this  brilliant  centre  of  letters,  the  first  university  in  the 
world,  learned  men  were  attracted  from  all  quarters.  At  one 
time,  14,000  students  were  under  instruction. 

The  Alexandrian  Library. — The  Museum  was  the  seat  of  a 


THE    LIBRAKY    OF    ALEXANDRIA. 


273 


great  library,  collected  in  accordance  with  Ptolemy's  command 
that  all  the  writings  of  the  earth  should  be  brought  to  Egypt 
to  be  transcribed.  But  once  there,  the  originals  seldom  parted 
company  with  the  pictures  and  statues  in  Ptolemy's  sculptured 
alcoves,  the  owners  being  obliged  to  content  themselves  with 
fac-similes  of  their  treasured  rolls  made  by  the  royal  copyists. 


GUEKKS   OF   THE  ALEX/YNDKIAN   PEBIOD. 

The  Egyptian  kings  often  paid  roundly  for  valuable  manu- 
scripts. It  is  stated  that  Philadelphus  borrowed  at  Athens 
the  plays  of  Euripides  to  have  them  copied  for  his  library, 
depositing  about  $10,000  as  security  for  their  return.  But 
when  the  work  was  done,  he  sent  back  the  transcript,  prefer- 
ring to  lose  his  money  rather  than  part  with  the  originals. 

M 


274  GKECIAN   LITEEATUBE. 

Philadelphus  left  100,000  volumes  in  the  library.  These 
quadrupled  after  his  death,  and  rilled  the  Museum  to  over- 
flowing, so  that  in  the  Temple  of  Sera'pis  was  opened  "  the 
Daughter  Library"  for  the  reception  of  additional  volumes. 
The  number  of  these  ultimately  reached  300,000,  making 
700,000  in  all. 

When,  after  the  assassination  of  Pompey,  Caesar  fired  Alex- 
andria (47  B.C.),  the  flames  enwrapped  the  Museum,  and  its 
library  perished.  Antony  subsequently  gave  Cleopatra  the 
Pergamene  Collection  of  parchment  books  (see  p.  24),  which, 
with  his  kingdom,  Attains  III.  had  bequeathed  to  the  Romans 
(133  B.C.).  This,  added  to  the  rolls  in  the  Temple  of  Sera- 
pis,  formed  at  once  an  extensive  library.  It  was  increased 
by  constant  additions,  but  in  the  end  served  as  fuel  for  the 
four  thousand  baths  of  the  city,  when  Alexandria  fell  before 
the  Mohammedan  arms  (640  A.D.),  and  the  bigoted  caliph 
decided  that  "if  the  Greek  writings  agreed  with  the  Koran, 
they  were  useless  and  need  not  be  preserved;  if  they  dis- 
agreed, they  were  pernicious  and  ought  to  be  destroyed." 

POETRY    AT   ALEXANDRIA. 

The  first  school  of  poetry  at  Alexandria  was  founded  by 
Phile'tas  (330-285  B.C.),  the  elegiac  writer,  so  dwarfish  and 
emaciated  that  the  jesters  of  his  time  declared  he  had  to 
wear  leaden  shoes  to  keep  the  wind  from  blowing  him  away. 
Philetas  was  the  instructor  of  Theocritus.  But  the  greatest 
names  associated  with  the  Museum  are  those  of  Callim'achus 
and  Apollonius  Rhodius. 

Callimachus  (250  B.C.)  shines  not  only  as  a  lyric  and  epic 
poet,  but  also  as  a  critic  and  grammarian.  From  the  position 
of  a  suburban  schoolmaster  he  rose  to  that  of  librarian  at  the 
Museum,  and  made  himself  "  the  literary  dictator  and  univer- 
sal genius  of  his  age." 

Callimachus  exercised  his  talents  in  all  the  departments  of 


APOLLONIUS   KHOD1US.  275 

poetry,  and  wrote  as  well  in  prose.  His  works  reached  the 
number  of  800 ;  which  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  when  we  re- 
member his  remark,  "A  great  book  is  a  great  evil."  Such  of 
his  hymns  and  epigrams  as  time  has  spared,  bear  the  marks 
of  study  rather  than  genius. 

Apollonius,  called  Ehodius  from  his  long  residence  in 
Rhodes,  was  born  at  Alexandria,  and  studied  under  Cal- 
limachus.  But  the  master  grew  jealous  of  his  pupil,  and  a 
quarrel  arose  between  them.  When,  at  the  instigation  of 
Callimachus,  his  epic  poem  on  the  Argonautic  Expedition 
was  unfavorably  received  by  the  Alexandrians,  Apollonius,  in 
his  mortification,  left  the  city  and  opened  a  school  of  rhetoric 
in  Rhodes.  Here  he  revised  his  poem,  and  became  justly 
renowned  for  his  brilliant  attainments.  After  the  death  of 
Callimachus,  he  was  recalled  to  Alexandria,  read  his  epic  a 
second  time  to  the  people,  and  had  the  satisfaction  of  receiv- 
ing their  warmest  commendations  with  the  honorable  office 
of  librarian  (194  B.C.). 

The  "  Argonautica,"  in  four  books,  is  all  that  is  left  of  his 
works.  We  take  from  it  the  passage  which  describes  the 
impression  made  on  Medea  by  Jason,  the  leader  of  the  ex- 
pedition ;  compare  the  history  of  Medea  as  sketched  in 
connection  with  the  play  of  Euripides  bearing  her  name, 
page  210. 

MEDEA  IN  LOVE. 

"  Thus  Medea  went,  her  soul  absorbed 
In  many  musings,  such  as  love  incites, 
Thoughts  of  deep  care.     Now  all  remembered  things 
In  apparition  rose  before  her  eyes : 
What  was  his  aspect;  what  the  robe  he  wore  ; 
"What  words  he  uttered ;  in  what  posture  placed, 
He  on  the  conch  reclined;  and  with  what  air 
He  from  the  porch  passed  forth.     Then  red  the  blush 
Burned  on  her  cheek ;  while  in  her  soul  she  thought 
No  other  man  existed  like  to  him : 
His  voice  was  murmuring  in  her  ears,  and  all 
The  charming  words  he  uttered.     Now,  disturbed, 


276  GRECIAN  LITERATURE. 

She  trembled  for  his  life  ;  lest  the  fierce  Lulls, 

Or  lest  ^Ee'tes  should,  himself,  destroy 

The  man  she  loved.*     Arid  she  bewailed  him  now 

As  if  already  dead ;  and  down  her  cheeks, 

In  deep  commiseration,  the  soft  tear 

Flowed  anxiously.     With  piercing  tone  of  grief 

Her  voice  found  utterance  :  '  Why,  unhappy  one ! 

Am  I  thus  wretched  ?     What  concerns  it  ine, 

Whether  this  paragon  of  heroes  die 

The  death,  or  flee  discomfited  ?     And  yet 

He  should  unharmed  depart.     Dread  Hecate ! 

Be  it  thy  pleasure !  let  him  homeward  pass, 

And  'scape  his  threatened  fate ;  or,  if  his  fate 

Beneath  the  bulls  have  destined  him  to  fall, 

First  let  him  know  that  in  his  wretched  end 

Medea  does  not  glory.'     So  disturbed, 

Mused  the  sad  virgin  in  her  anguished  thoughts." 

ELTON. 


PROSE   WRITERS. 

Science. — The  influence  of  the  Alexandrian  university  in 
shaping  modern  science  was  all-potential.  Among  its  orna- 
ments are  numbered  the  mathematicians  Euclid  and  Ar- 
chime'des,  the  astronomer  Eratos'thenes,  Hero  the  inventor 
of  a  steam-engine,  and  Ctesibius  who  devised  water-clocks, 
pumps,  and  other  ingenious  machines. 

EUCLID  (300  B.C.)  compressed  in  one  volume  all  the  geo- 
metrical knowledge  extant,  adding  several  original  theorems. 
His  "  Elements "  has  been  translated  into  many  languages, 
and  though  it  has  attained  the  venerable  age  of  2,200  years, 
its  clear  demonstrations  are  still  standards  in  our  schools. 

ARCHIMEDES  was  educated  in  Alexandria,  but  afterward 
lived  in  Syracuse,  where  his  mathematical  genius  challenged 
the  admiration  of  the  world.  In  geometry  and  mechanics  he 
was  the  master-mind  of  antiquity ;  and  until  the  star  of  New- 
ton rose  twenty  centuries  after,  Europe  saw  not  his  equal. 

*  An  allusion  to  the  hostility  of  ^Eetes,  Medea's  father,  and  his  fire-breathing 
bulls,  which  Jason  was  required  to  tame  before  he  could  get  possession  of  the 
Golden  Fleece. 


PROSE    OF    THE    ALEXANDRIAN   AGE.  277 

Many  important  discoveries  in  physical  science  are  due  to 
Archimedes, — the  principle  of  the  lever,  which  led  him  to 
exclaim,  "Give  me  a  place  to  stand  on,  and  I  will  move  the 
world  ;"  the  process  of  finding  the  specific  gravity  of  bodies  ; 
the  hydraulic  screw  and  the  pulley.  Of  his  many  mathemat- 
ical works,  written  in  Doric  Greek,  eight  survive. 

ERATOSTHENES  (276-196  B.C.)  was  the  founder  of  geodesy 
and  chronology,  as  well  as  a  proficient  in  astronomy,  gram- 
mar, and  poetry.  The  ancients  styled  him  Pentathlos  (quin- 
tuple athlete) ;  also,  from  his  determining  the  magnitude  of 
the  earth,  "Measurer  of  the  Universe."  His  most  important 
works  are  "  Chronographies,"  and  geographical  and  math- 
ematical writings. 

HIPPARCHUS  (150  B.C.),  an  astronomer  of  the  Alexandrian 
age,  deserves  mention  as  the  inventor  of  the  planisphere  and 
as  the  first  to  make  a  catalogue  of  the  stars.  He  devised  the 
method  of  locating  places  by  latitude  and  longitude. 

Grammar.  —  The  Museum  was  especially  eminent  as  a 
school  of  grammar  and  criticism,  the  principal  occupation  of 
its  scholars  being  the  revision  and  correction  of  the  texts  of 
the  old  authors. 

The  most  distinguished  of  the  Alexandrian  critics  were — 
ZENOD'OTUS,  the  first  librarian  and  critical  editor  of  Homer's 
epics  ;  ARISTOPHANES  OF  BYZANTIUM,  his  pupil  (200  B.C.), 
the  inventor  of  Greek  accents  and  punctuation ;  ARISTAR- 
CHUS  (156  B.C.),  "the  arch  -  grammarian  of  Greece,"  who 
divided  Homer's  poems  into  books,  revised  the  Alexandrian 
canon,  and  was  the  author  of  800  commentaries ;  and  CRA'- 
TES,  head  of  a  grammatical  school  at  Pergamus,  and  the  first 
to  make  grammar  a  popular  study  at  Rome. 

History. — POLYBIUS  (204-122  B.C.)  was  the  chief  historian 
of  the  Alexandrian  age.  Brought  to  Rome  a  prisoner  after 
the  battle  of  Pydna  (168  B.C.),  in  which  the  king  of  Macedon 
was  overthrown  by  Paulus  yEmilius,  he  became  the  intimate 


278  GRECIAN   LITERATURE. 

friend  of  Scipio  Africanus  the  Younger.  Seventeen  years 
elapsed  before  Polybius  was  permitted  to  return  to  Greece. 
Then  he  went  back  the  firm  friend  of  the  Romans ;  and  had 
his  countrymen  heeded  his  counsels,  the  sack  of  Corinth 
might  have  been  averted  and  Greece  might  have  preserved 
her  independence.  So,  at  least,  declared  the  inscription  on 
-his  statue :  "  Hellas  would  have  been  saved  had  she  followed 
the  advice  of  Polybius." 

Polybius  accompanied  Scipio  in  several  of  his  campaigns, 
and  saw  Carthage  burned  to  the  ground.  In  his  travels, 
which  were  varied  and  extensive,  he  stored  his  mind  with 
useful  information  for  his  "Universal  History,"  the  grand 
work  of  his  life.  Its  forty  books  impartially  narrated  the 
history  of  Rome  and  the  contemporary  nations  between  the 
years  220  and  146  B.C.,  but  in  a  style  devoid  of  attractions. 
Polybius,  as  Macatilay  said,  lacked  "  the  art  of  telling  a  story 
in  an  interesting  manner."  The  first  five  books  of  his  work, 
and  a  few  fragments  of  the  others,  have  been  preserved. 

As  all  eyes  have  recently  been  turned  on  Constantinople, 
whose  important  situation  has  long  made  its  acquisition  the 
traditional  policy  of  Russia,  it  may  not  be  uninteresting  to 
present  the  view  which  Polybius  takes  of  this  ancient  city, 
then  known  as 

BYZANTIUM. 

"Byzantium,  of  all  the  cities  in  the  world,  is  the  most,  happy  iu 
its  situation  with  respect  to  the  sea,  beiug  not  only  secure  on  that 
side  from  all  enemies,  but  possessed  also  of  the  means  of  obtaining 
every  kind  of  necessaries  in  the  greatest  plenty.  But  with  respect 
to  the  laud,  there  is  scarcely  any  place  that  has  so  little  claim  to 
these  advantages. 

With  regard  to  the  sea,  the  Byzantines,  standing  close  upou  the 
entrance  of  the  Euxiue,  command  so  absolutely  all  that  passage  that 
it  is  not  possible  for  any  merchant  to  sail  through  it,  or  return,  with- 
out their  permission ;  and  hence  they  are  the  masters  of  all  those 
commodities  which  are  drawn  in  various  kinds  from  the  countries 
that  lie  round  this  sea,  to  satisfy  the  wants  or  conveniences  of  other 
men.  For  among  the  things  that  arc  necessary  for  use,  they  supply 


HISTOKIANS    OP   THE   ALEXANDKIAN   AGE.  279 

the  Greeks  with  leather,  and  with  great  numbers  of  very  serviceable 
slaves.  Ami  with  regard  to  those  that  are  esteemed  conveniences, 
they  send  honey  and  wax,  with  all  kinds  of  seasoned  and  salted 
meats ;  taking  from  us  in  exchange  our  own  superfluous  commodi- 
ties, oil  and  every  sort  of  wine.  They  sometimes  also  furnish  us 
with  corn,  and  sometimes  receive  it  from  us,  as  the  wauts  of  either 
may  require. 

Now  it  is  certain  that  the  Greeks  must  either  be  excluded  wholly 
from  this  commerce,  or  bo  deprived  at  least  of  all  its  chief  advan- 
tages, if  ever  the  Byzantines  should  engage  in  any  ill  designs  against 
them.  For  as  well  by  reason  of  the  extreme  narrowness  of  the  pas- 
sage as  from  the  numbers  of  barbarians  that  are  settled  around  it, 
wo  should  never  be  able  to  gain  an  entrance  through  it  into  the 
Euxiue. 

Though  the  Byzantines,  therefore,  are  themselves  possessed  of  the 
first  and  best  advantages  of  this  happy  situation,  which  enables 
them  to  make  both  an  easy  and  a  profitable  exchange  of  their  super- 
fluous commodities,  and  to  procure  in  return,  without  any  pain  or 
danger,  whatever  their  own  lands  fail  to  furnish ;  yet  since,  through 
their  means  chiefly,  other  countries  also  are  enabled  to  obtain  many 
things  that  are  of  the  greatest  use,  it  seems  reasonable  that  they 
should  always  be  regarded  by  the  Greeks  as  common  benefactors, 
and  receive  not  only  favor  and  acknowledgments,  but  assistance 
likewise  to  repel  all  attempts  that  may  bo  made  against  them  by 
their  barbarous  neighbors. 

And  with  these  barbarous  tribes  they  are  involved  in  constant 
war.  For  when  they  have  taken  great  pains  to  cultivate  their 
lands,  which  are  by  nature  very  fertile,  and  the  rich  fruits  stand 
ready  to  repay  their  labors,  on  a  sudden  the  barbarians,  pouring 
down,  destroy  one  part  and  carry  away  the  rest ;  and  leave  to  the 
Byzantines,  after  all  their  cost  and  toil,  only  the  pain  of  beholding 
their  best  harvests  wasted,  while  their  beauty  aggravates  the  grief, 
and  renders  the  sense  of  their  calamity  more  sharp  and  insupport- 
able."— HAMPTON. 

MAN'ETHO  in  Egypt,  BERO'SUS  at  Babylon,  and  TIMJEUS  in 
Sicily,  wrote  the  annals  of  their  several  countries. 

The  Septuagint.  —  Finally,  to  the  Museum  we  owe  the 
Septuagint  (p.  104),  or  Greek  version  of  the  Old  Testament, 
made  by  learned  Jews  employed  by  Ptolemy.  The  Jews  no 
longer  spoke  the  ancient  Hebrew  with  fluency,  and  their 
version  in  various  parts  betrays  an  imperfect  knowledge  of 
the  original.  The  Septuagint  served  as  a  basis  for  transla- 
tions into  many  different  tongues. 


280  GRECIAN   LITERATURE. 


THE   SEVEN    PLEIADES. 


•THEOCRITUS  :  the  idyl-writer. 
CALLIMACHUS  :  poet,  grammarian,  etc. 


Al'OLLONIUS   RlIODIUS. 

HOMER  THE  YOUNGER. 


ARA'TUS:  author  of  a  popular  astro- 
nomical poem ;   from   him  St.  Paul 


quoted  the  expression  with  reference 
LYC  oriiRON,  the  Obscure :  author  of  ,     _   .      „ .       , 

„      ,        to  the  Deitv, "  in  whom  we  live,  and 
"  Cassandra,    "  the  dark  poem,   and 

,.  move,  and  have  our  being. 

Gi  tragedies. 

NICANDER,  a  physician  :   two  didactic 


medical  poems  on  poisons  and  their 
antidotes. 


EUPHO'RION,  author  of  three  heroic  poems  and  a  celebrated  grammar — AroL- 
LOUORUS,  the  didactic  poet — and  MELEA'GER  THE  EXQUISITE,  flourished  in  the 
Alexandrian  age.  Meleager's  "  Garland  "  was  the  first  anthology,  or  collection 
of  epigrams.  AN'YTE  of  Arcadia, "  the  female  Homer,"  and  Nossis,  the  Locrian 
poetess  (300  B.C.),  wrote  epigrams.  CLEANTIIES,  the  persevering  disciple  of  Zeno 
(300-220  B.C.),  composed  moral  treatises  and  a  hymn  to  Jupiter  full  of  loft}'  sen- 
timents. 


CHAPTER  VII. 
LATER  GREEK  LITERATURE. 

Extinction  of  Greek  Genius. — The  long  period  which  now 
engages  our  attention  is  marked  by  a  further  decline,  and  the 
ultimate  extinction  of  letters.  Roman  despotism  was  inimical 
to  literature ;  Greece  lay  prostrate  and  broken-spirited ;  night 
was  fast  settling  down  on  the  world.  Poetry,  a  faint  shadow 
of  its  former  self,  appeared  principally  in  epigrams.  The 
prose  of  the  early  Christian  centuries  exhibits  some  excep- 
tional gleams,  but  they  are  only  the  flickerings  of  a  dying 
flame. 

About  the  Christian  Era  is  gathered  a  group  of  geograph- 
ical and  historical  writers  with  Stra'bo,  Diodo'rus  Sic'ulus, 
and  Dionysius  of  Halicarnassus  as  the  prominent  figures. 


ABOUT   THE    CHRISTIAN    ERA.  281 

The  first  century  after  Christ  presents  to  us  the  authors  of 
the  New  Testament;  Clement  of  Rome,  an  eminent  authority 
with  the  early  Christians  ;  and  Josephus,  the  Jewish  historian, 
all  of  whom  wrote  in  Greek.  Plutarch,  the  eminent  biogra- 
pher, born  about  50  A.D.,  lived  through  the  first  twenty  years 
of  the  second  century,  which  was  also  adorned  with  the  names 
of  Lucian  and  Pausanias  the  geographer.  In  the  third  cen- 
tury flourished  Longi'nus,  the  greatest  rhetorician  of  this  later 
age ;  while  the  writings  of  the  Christian  fathers  extend  over  a 
period  of  several  hundred  years,  from  the  time  of  Clement 
just  named. 

After  the  fall  of  Rome  (476  A.D.),  Constantinople  became 
the  sole  centre  of  letters,  and  there  for  nearly  a  thousand 
years  they  languished.  After  Mahomet  II.  carried  the  city 
by  storm  in  1453,  the  native  scholars  dispersed  over  Europe, 
and  by  awakening  an  interest  in  classical  studies  contributed 
not  a  little  to  the  revival  of  letters. 

THE   FIRST   CENTURY   BEFORE    CHRIST. 

Diodorus  Siculus  (the  Sicilian)  was  the  author  of  "  the  His- 
torical Library,"  which  cost  him  thirty  years  of  labor.  Un- 
folding the  story  of  the  human  race  from  remote  antiquity  to 
the  time  of  Julius  Caesar,  his  work  contains  much  valuable 
information. 

Dionysius  of  Halicarnassus. — The  longest  production  of 
this  writer  is  his  "Roman  Antiquities,"  a  history  of  Rome 
prior  to  the  Punic  wars,  pervaded  by  an  evident  partiality  for 
Greece  and  her  institutions.  Dionysius  was  also  a  rhetorician 
of  the  highest  rank,  as  his  critical  essays  on  the  eloquence 
of  Demosthenes,  the  style  of  Thucydides,  and  other  subjects, 
testify. 

Strabo,  of  Pontus  in  Asia  Minor,  must  be  remembered  in 
connection  with  his  "Geography,"  still  extant,  an  interesting 

work  in  seventeen  books,  for  which  he  prepared  himself  by 

M  2 


282  GRECIAN   LITERATURE. 

travels  in  Asia,  Africa,  and  Europe.  It  is  not  a  mere  tissue 
of  names  and  statistics,  but  is  lighted  up  with  sketches  of  so- 
cial life,  pleasant  stories,  and  epitomes  of  political  history, 
thus  entertaining  at  the  same  time  that  it  instructs. 

What  this  lively  writer  records  of  India  may  interest  the 

reader : — 

THE  WONDERS  OF  INDIA. 

"  Between  the  Hydaspes  and  the  Acesi'nes  is  the  country  of  Porus, 
an  extensive  and  fertile  district,  containing  nearly  three  hundred 
cities.  Here  also  is  the  forest  in  which  Alexander  cut  down  a  largo 
quantity  of  fir,  pine,  cedar,  and  a  variety  of  other  trees  fit  for  ship- 
building, and  brought  the  timber  doAvu  the  Hydaspes.  With  this  ho 
constructed  a  fleet  near  the  cities  which  he  built  on  each  side  of  the 
river,  where  he  had  crossed  it  and  conquered  Porus.  One  of  these 
cities  he  called  Bucephalia,  from  the  horse  Bucephalus,  which  was 
killed  in  the  battle  with  Porus.  The  name  Bucephalus  (ox-headed) 
was  given  to  the  animal  from  the  breadth  of  his  forehead. 

In  the  forest  before  mentioned  it  is  said  there  is  a  vast  number  of 
monkeys,  as  large  as  they  are  numerous.  On  one  occasion  the  Mace- 
donians, seeing  a  body  of  them  standing  in  array  on  some  bare  emi- 
nences, prepared  to  attack  them  as  real  enemies. 

The  chase  of  this  animal  is  conducted  in  two  different  ways.  The 
hunters,  when  they  perceive  a  monkey  seated  on  a  tree,  place  in 
sight  a  basin  containing  water,  with  which  they  wash  their  own 
eyes;  then,  instead  of  water,  they  put  a  basin  of  bird-lime,  go  away, 
and  lie  in  wait  at  a  distance.  The  animal,  being  an  imitative  creat- 
ure, leaps  down,  and  besmears  itself  with  the  bird-lime,  and  when  it 
winks,  the  eyelids  are  fastened  together.  The  hunters  then  come 
upon  it,  and  take  it.  The  other  method  of  capturing  them  is  as  fol- 
lows :  the  hunters  dress  themselves  in  bags  like  trousers  and  go 
away,  leaving  behind  them  others  Avhich  are  downy,  with  the  inside 
smeared  over  with  bird-lime.  The  monkeys  put  them  on,  and  are 
easily  taken. 

A  very  singular  usage  is  related  of  the  high  estimation  in  which 
the  inhabitants  of  Cathaia  (the  tract  between  the  Hydaspes  and 
Acesines)  hold  the  quality  of  beauty.  They  elect  the  handsomest 
person  as  king.  A  child,  two  months  after  birth,  undergoes  a  public 
inspection.  They  determine  whether  it  has  the  amount  of  beauty 
required  by  law.  The  presiding  magistrate  then  pronounces  wheth- 
er it  is  to  be  allowed  to  live,  or  to  be  put  to  death.  The  bride  and 
the  husband  are  respectively  the  choice  of  each  other,  and  the  wives, 
it  is  related,  burn  themselves  with  their  deceased  husbands.  The 
reason  assigned  for  this  practice  is,  that  the  women  sometimes  fell 
in  love  with  young  men,  and  deserted  or  poisoned  their  husbands. 


EXTRACT   FEOM   STKABO.  283 

This  law  was  therefore  established  in  order  to  check  the  practice  of 
administering  poison;  but  neither  the  existence  nor  the  origin  of 
the  law  is  probable. 

The  dogs  in  this  territory  are  said  to  possess  remarkable  courage. 
Alexander  received  from  Sopeithes,  the  monarch,  a  present  of  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  of  them.  To  prove  them,  two  were  set  at  a  lion ;  when 
these  were  mastered,  two  others  were  set  on ;  when  the  battle  be- 
came equal,  Sopeithes  ordered  a  man  to  seize  one  of  the  dogs  by  the 
leg?  aud  to  drag  him  away ;  or  to  cut  off  his  leg,  if  he  still  held  on. 
Alexander  at  first  refused  his  consent  to  the  dog's  leg  being  cut  off, 
as  he  wished  to  save  the  dog.  But  on  Sopeithos  saying, '  I  will  give 
you  four  in  the  place  of  it,'  Alexander  consented;  and  he  saw  the  dog 
permit  his  leg  to  be  cut  off  by  a  slow  incision  rather  than  loose  his 
hold. 

Nearchus  is  surprised  at  the  multitude  and  the  noxious  nature  of 
the  reptiles.  They  retreat  from  the  plains  to  the  settlements  at  the 
period  of  inundations,  and  fill  the  houses.  For  this  reason  the  inhab- 
itants raise  their  beds  from  the  ground,  aud  are  sometimes  compelled 
to  abandon  their  dwellings.  Charmers  go  about  the  country,  and 
are  supposed  to  cure  wounds  made  by  serpents.  This  seems  to  com- 
prise nearly  their  whole  art  of  medicine,  for  disease  is  not  frequent 
among  them,  owing  to  their  frugal  manner  of  life,  and  to  the  absence 
of  wine.  Whenever  diseases  do  occur,  they  are  treated  by  the  Soph- 
ists (ivise  men). 

All  the  Indians  are  frugal  in  their  mode  of  life,  aud  are  happy  on 
account  of  their  simple  manners.  They  never  drink  wine  but  at  sac- 
rifices. Their  beverage  is  made  from  rice  instead  of  barley,  and  their 
food  consists  for  the  most  part  of  rice  pottage.  The  simplicity  of 
their  laws  appears  from  their  having  few  lawsuits.  Theft  is  very 
rare  among  them.  Their  houses  aud  property  are  unguarded.  These 
things  denote  temperance  and  sobriety.  Others  of  their  customs  no 
one  would  approve ;  as  their  eating  always  alone,  and  their  not  hav- 
ing all  of  them  one  common  hour  for  their  meals,  but  each  taking 
food  as  ho  likes.  As  an  exercise  of  the  body  they  prefer  friction  in 
various  ways,  but  particularly  by  making  use  of  smooth  sticks  of 
ebony,  which  they  pass  over  the  surface  of  the  skin.  They  marry 
many  wives,  who  are  purchased  from  their  parents,  and  give  in  ex- 
change for  them  a  yoke  of  oxen. 

Megasthenes  divides  the  philosophers  into  two  kinds,  the  Brah- 
mans  and  the  Garmanes.  The  Brahmaus  are  held  in  greater  repute. 
They  do  not  communicate  their  philosophy  to  their  wives,  for  fear 
they  should  divulge  to  the  profane  anything  which  ought  to  be  con- 
cealed. They  discourse  much  on  death,  and  discipline  themselves  to 
prepare  for  it.  According  to  the  Brahmans,  the  world  was  created 
and  is  liable  to  corruption ;  it  is  of  a  spheroidal  figure ;  the  god  who 


284  GRECIAN   LITERATURE. 

made  arid  governs  it,  pervades  the  whole  of  it ;  the  earth  is  situated 
iu  the  centre  of  the  universe.  Many  other  peculiar  things  they  say 
of  the  principles  of  generation  and  of  the  soul.  They  invent  fables 
also,  after  the  manner  of  Plato,  on  immortality  and  on  the  punish- 
ment in  Hades ;  and  other  things  of  this  kind." — FALCONER. 

THE   FIRST   THREE    CHRISTIAN    CENTURIES. 

Josephus,  born  A.D.  37  at  Jerusalem,  was  the  scion  of  a 
noble  line.  At  the  early  age  of  fourteen  he  astonished  the 
chief  priests  by  his  mental  power  and  familiarity  with  the  in- 
tricacies of  Jewish  law.  We  next  hear  of  him  as  spending 
three  years  in  the  desert  with  a  hermit,  and  then  as  joining 
the  Pharisees. 

The  revolutionary  tendencies  of  his  countrymen  brought  on 
a  war  with  the  Romans,  in  the  course  of  which  Josephus,  after 
the  brave  defence  of  a  city  under  his  command,  was  made 
prisoner  by  the  Roman  general  Flavius  Vespasian.  Prophe- 
sying that  Vespasian  would  one  day  wear  the  purple  of  the 
emperors,  he  alone  of  the  captives  was  spared;  the  fulfilment 
of  this  prediction  about  three  years  later  insured  him  the  fa- 
vor of  the  Flavian  family,  whose  name  he  prefixed  to  his  own. 
Vespasian's  son,  Titus,  he  accompanied  to  the  siege  of  Jeru- 
salem, receiving  at  the  hands  of  the  victorious  general  after  its 
capture  the  lives  of  two  hundred  and  forty  of  his  friends,  to- 
gether with  the  sacred  volumes  which  he  greatly  prized. 

From  the  desolation  of  his  country,  Josephus  returned  to 
Rome  as  the  honored  guest  of  the  emperor  and  his  sons,  dur- 
ing whose  reigns  he  produced  his  great  works, — "  the  History 
of  the  Jewish  War"  and  "Jewish  Antiquities."  These  inter- 
esting standards,  though  written  in  a  style  which  has  led  to 
their  author's  being  called  "  the  Grecian  Livy,"  are  yet  tinged 
with  vanity  and  skepticism. 

Plutarch  (50-120  A.D.),  the  great  biographer  of  antiquity, 
was  born  in  Chseronea,  a  Boeotian  town.  After  completing 
his  education  at  Athens,  he  sailed  to  Egypt,  and  in  Domitian's 


PLUTARCH   AND    HIS    "LIVES."  285 

reign  (81-96  A.D.)  visited  Rome,  where  his  lectures  won  gold- 
en opinions  from  the  learned. 

From  Italy,  Plutarch  returned  to  his  native  city,  and  there 
passed  the  last  twenty  or  thirty  years  of  his  life,  happy  in  the 
society  of  his  wife,  a  paragon  of  good  sense,  economy,  and  vir- 
tue. Literature  was  henceforth  his  pursuit ;  but  believing  it 
a  duty  to  devote  part  of  his  time  to  the  public  good,  he  ac- 
cepted office  from  his  fellow-townsmen,  and  was  finally  made 
chief-magistrate  of  Chsronea.  He  tells  us  with  relish  how 
his  neighbors  often  laughed  at  his  doing  what  they  considered 
beneath  his  dignity.  When  they  wondered  that  so  great  a 
man  should  carry  fish  from  market  in  his  own  hands,  he  told 
them,  "Why,  it's  for  myself;"  and  when  they  found  fault  with 
him  for  personally  superintending  the  building  of  public  edi- 
fices, he  silenced  them  with  the  reply,  "This  service  is  not  for 
myself,  but  for  my  country."  "  The  meaner  the  office  you 
sustain,"  said  Plutarch,  "  the  greater  the  compliment  you  pay 
to  the  public." 

In  his  delightful  retreat  at  Chaeronea,  Plutarch  compiled 
from  two  hundred  and  fifty  authorities  the  work  that  has  given 
him  a  niche  in  the  Temple  of  Fame — "  Parallel  Lives  " — 
sparkling  with  interest  and  animation,  as  it  is  underlaid  by 
good  judgment.  His  plan  was  to  present  the  biography  of  a 
distinguished  Greek,  follow  it  with  that  of  some  Roman,  and 
then  critically  compare  the  two  characters.  But  the  "  Lives," 
as  we  have  it,  is  not  the  complete  work  its  author  probably 
left  at  his  death,  inasmuch  as  a  number  of  biographies  and 
parallels  are  wanting.  Though  Plutarch's  passion  for  story- 
telling sometimes  carries  him  beyond  the  bounds  of  the  prob- 
able, yet  his  work  is  an  invaluable  storehouse  j  his  capital 
literary  portraits  have  stood  the  test  of  time,  and  are  still 
universally  admired.  The  charms  of  a  book  in  which  are 
recorded  "  the  greatest  characters  and  most  admirable  actions 
of  the  human  race  "  can  never  fade. 


286  GRECIAN   LITERATURE. 

Among  the  best  of  Plutarch's  Parallels  is  his 

COMPAKISON  OF  DEMOSTHENES  AND  CICERO. 

"  Omitting  an  exact  comparison  of  their  respective  faculties  in 
speaking,  yet  thus  muck  seems  fit  to  be  said :  That  Demosthenes,  to 
make  himself  a  master  in  rhetoric,  applied,  all  the  faculties  he  had, 
natural  or  acquired,  wholly  that  way ;  that  he  far  surpassed  in  force 
and  strength  of  eloquence  all  his  contemporaries  in  political  and  ju- 
dicial speaking,  in  grandeur  and  majesty  all  the  panegyrical  orators, 
and  in  acciiracy  and  science  all  the  logicians  and  rhetoricians  of  his 
day :  That  Cicero  was  highly  educated,  and  by  his  diligent  study 
became  a  most  accomplished  general  scholar  in  all  these  branches, 
having  left  behind  him  numerous  philosophical  treatises  of  his  own 
on  Academic  principles ;  as,  indeed,  even  in  his  written  speeches, 
both  political  and  judicial,  we  seo  him  continually  trying  to  show 
his  learning  by  the  way. 

One  may  discover  the  different  temper  of  each  of  them  in  their 
speeches.  For  the  oratory  of  Demosthenes  was  without  any  embel- 
lishment or  jesting,  wholly  composed  for  real  effect  and  seriousness; 
not  smelling  of  the  lamp,  as  Pytheas  scoffingly  said,  but  of  the  tem- 
perance, thoughtfuluess,  austerity,  and  grave  earnestness  of  his  tem- 
per. Whereas  Cicero's  fondness  for  mockery  often  ran  him  into 
scurrility ;  and  in  his  love  of  laughing  away  serious  arguments  in 
judicial  cases  by  jests  and  facetious  remarks,  with  a  view  to  the  ad- 
vantage of  his  clients,  he  paid  too  little  regard  to  what  was  decent : 
saying,  for  example,  in  his  defence  of  Ca3lius,  that  he  had  done  no 
absurd  thing  in  indulging  himself  so  freely  in  pleasures,  it  being  a 
kind  of  madness  not  to  enjoy  the  things  we  possess,  especially  since 
the  most  eminent  philosophers  have  asserted  pleasure  to  be  the  chief 
good.  So  also  we  are  told  that  when  Cicero,  being  consul,  undertook 
the  defence  of  Mnreua  against  Cato's  prosecution,  by  way  of  banter- 
ing Cato,  he  made  a  long  series  of  jokes  upon  the  absurd  paradoxes, 
as  they  are  called,  of  the  Stoic  sect ;  so  that,  a  loud  laugh  passing 
from  the  crowd  to  the  judges,  Cato,  with  a  quiet  smile,  said  to  those 
who  sat  next  him, '  My  friends,  what  an  amusing  consul  we  have  !' 

Cicero  was  by  natural  temper  very  much  disposed  to  mirth  and 
pleasantry,  and  always  appeared  with  a  smiling  and  serene  coun- 
tenance. But  Demosthenes  had  constant  care  and  thoughtfuluess 
in  his  look,  and  a  serious  anxiety,  which  he  seldom,  if  ever,  laid  aside ; 
and,  therefore,  he  was  accounted  by  his  enemies,  as  he  himself  con- 
fessed, morose  and  ill-mannered. 

It  is  very  evident,  also,  from  their  several  writings,  that  Demos- 
thenes never  touched  upon  his  own  praises  but  decently  and  without 
offence  when  there  was  need  of  it,  and  for  some  weightier  end  ;  but, 
upon  other  occasions,  modestly  and  sparingly.  But  Cicero's  immeas- 
urable boasting  of  himself  in  his  orations  argues  him  guilty  of  an 
uncontrollable  appetite  for  distinction,  his  cry  being  evermore  that 


EXTRACT  FROM  PLUTARCH.  287 

arms  should  give  place  to  the  gown,  and  the  soldier's  laurel  to  the 
tongue.  And  at  last  wo  find  him  extolling  not  only  his  deeds  and 
actions,  but  his  orations  also,  as  well  those  that  were  only  spoken  as 
those  that  were  published ;  as  if  he  were  engaged  in  a  boyish  trial 
of  skill,  who  should  speak  best,  with  the  rhetoricians  Isocrates  and 
Anaximcnes,  not  as  one  who  could  claim  the  task  to  guide  and  iu' 
struct  the  Roman  nation,  the 

Soldier  full-armed,  terrific  to  the  foe. 

Moreover,  the  banishment  of  Demosthenes  was  infamous,  upon  con- 
viction for  bribery;  Cicero's  very  honorable,  for  ridding  his  country 
of  a  set  of  villains.  Therefore  when  Demosthenes  fled  his  country, 
no  man  regarded  it ;  for  Cicero's  sake,  the  senate  changed  their  habit 
and  put  on  mourning,  and  would  not  be  persuaded  to  make  any  act 
before  Cicero's  return  was  decreed. 

Cicero,  however,  passed  his  exile  idly  iu  Macedonia.  But  the  very 
exile  of  Demosthenes  made  up  a  great  part  of  the  services  he  did  for 
his  country ;  for  he  went  through  the  cities  of  Greece,  and  everywhere, 
as  we  have  said,  joined  in  the  conflict  on  behalf  of  the  Grecians,  driv- 
ing out  the  Macedonian  ambassadors,  and  approving  himself  a  much 
better  citizen  than  Themistocles  and  Alcibiades  did  in  the  like  fort- 
une. After  his  return,  he  again  devoted  himself  to  the  same  public 
service,  and  continued  firm  in  his  opposition  to  Antipater  and  the 
Macedonians.  Whereas  La;lius  reproached  Cicero  iu  the  senate  for 
sitting  silent  when  Caesar,  a  beardless  youth,  asked  leave  to  come 
forward,  contrary  to  the  law,  as  a  candidate  for  the  consulship;  and 
Brutus,  in  Ms  epistles,  charges  him  with  nursing  and  rearing  a  great- 
er and  more  heavy  tyranny  than  that  they  had  removed. 

Finally,  Cicero's  death  excites  our  pity ;  for  an  old  man  to  be  mis- 
erably carried  up  and  down  by  his  servants,  flying  and  hiding  him- 
self from  that  death  which  was,  in  the  course  of  nature,  so  near  at 
hand — and  yet  at  last  to  be  murdered.  Demosthenes,  though  ho 
seemed  at  first  a  little  to  supplicate,  yet,  by  his  preparing  and  keep- 
ing the  poison  by  him,  demands  our  admiration ;  and  still  more  ad- 
mirable was  his  using  it.  When  the  temple  of  the  god  no  longer 
afforded  him  a  sanctuary,  he  took  refuge  at  a  mightier  altar,  freeing 
himself  from  arms  and  soldiers,  and  laughing  to  scorn  the  cruelty  of 
Autipater." — CLOUGH. 

A  moralist  as  well  as  a  biographer,  Plutarch  wrote  many 
ethical  and  philosophical  essays.  The  death  of  his  daughter 
called  forth  a  feeling  letter  to  his  wife, — "  the  Consolation," — 
in  which  he  affectionately  bids  her  not  give  way  to  extrava- 
gant grief,  but  submit  with  resignation  to  the  blow,  comforting 
her  with  thoughts  of  immortality ;  it  may  be  added  that  he 
held  Plato's  views  on  this  subject  as  on  others. 


288  GRECIAN  LITERATURE. 

In  his  "Essay  on  Inquisitiveness"  he  condemns  all  eager- 
ness to  learn  news  and  impatience  in  opening  letters,  or 
"  biting  the  strings  in  two,  as  many  will  if  they  do  not  succeed 
at  once  with  their  fingers."  As  an  example  of  dignified  pa- 
tience, he  instances  Rusticus  at  Rome,  who  in  the  midst  of 
a  lecture  received  a  letter  from  the  emperor  Domitian,  but 
would  not  open  it  till  Plutarch  had  finished  speaking. 

Lucian  (probably  120-200  A.D.),  one  of  the  wittiest  of 
Greek  writers,  was  a  native  of  Syria,  and  passed  his  boyhood 
on  the  banks  of  the  Euphrates.  Doubtless  his  favorite 
amusement  of  moulding  wax  into  figures  weighed  with  his 
parents,  no  less  than  their  own  poverty,  when  they  bound  him 
as  an  apprentice  to  his  mother's  brother  to  learn  the  sculp- 
tor's art.  The  young  Lucian  enthusiastically  fell  in  with 
their  decision,  fondly  anticipating  the  time  when  he  should 
astonish  his  playfellows  with  little  gods  cut  from  the  marble 
by  his  own  hands.  But  his  maiden  attempt  in  the  statuary's 
shop  resulted  in  a  broken  slab  and  a  cruel  whipping  at  the 
hands  of  his  uncle.  "  The  first  wages  I  earned,"  he  said, 
"  were  tears  " — but  they  were  also  the  last.  He  never  re- 
turned to  the  chisel  and  mallet. 

After  picking  up  a  rhetorical  education,  by  what  means 
he  does  not  tell  us,  Lucian  established  himself  at  Antioch 
as  a  lawyer;  but  failing  of  success,  he  set  out  on  a  lect- 
ure tour  through  Europe.  In  Gaul,  where  rhetoric,  the  art 
he  taught,  was  in  special  demand,  he  accumulated  a  fort- 
une ;  with  which  he  retired  from  his  profession  in  the 
prime  of  life,  and  took  up  his  residence  at  Athens.  Here 
he  prosecuted  his  literary  studies,  exchanged  his  Syrian 
Greek  for  pure  Attic,  and  is  believed  to  have  written  his 
finest  Dialogues. 

At  the  age  of  seventy,  Lucian  found  himself  so  reduced  as 
to  be  obliged  to  accept  from  the  Roman  emperor  the  clerk- 
ship of  the  Alexandrian  courts.  This  position,  which  allowed 


LUCTAN.  289 

him  to  continue  his  literary  labors,  he  is  said  to  have  enjoyed 
until  his  death. 

LUCIAN'S  STYLE  AND  WRITINGS. — Piquant  humor,  inimita- 
ble power  of  satire,  and  wonderful  versatility,  are  Lucian's 
strong  points.  His  style  is  clear  and  graceful.  Of  his  vo- 
luminous writings  the  most  popular  are  the  "  Dialogues " 
on  various  subjects,  serious  and  humorous.  He  attacked 
falsehood  and  trickery,  folly  and  superstition ;  and  the  dead- 
ly blows  he  rained  upon  his  country's  mythology,  which  led 
to  his  being  called  "the  Blasphemer,"  indirectly,  though  un- 
intentionally, helped  the  spread  of  Christianity. 

In  the  "  Dialogues  of  the  Gods,"  the  deities  talk  over  the 
domestic  affairs  of  the  Olympian  household,  gossip,  and  wran- 
gle, and  pry  into  one  another's  secrets,  quite  after  the  manner 
of  humans.  Such  a  belittling  of  the  national  divinities  could 
not  be  without  an  unsettling  effect  on  the  popular  faith. — 
The  "  Dialogues  of  the  Dead  "  are  equally  rich  with  humor 
and  ridicule. 

Against  the  philosophers  of  his  day,  whom  he  looked  upon 
as  miserable  charlatans,  Lucian  launched  the  laughable  Dia- 
logue entitled  "  the  Sale  of  the  Philosophers,"  in  which  the 
founders  of  the  old  schools  are  disposed  of  at  auction  by 
Jupiter  in  a  slave-market,  Mercury  playing  the  part  of  auc- 
tioneer. Pythagoras  is  put  up  first  and  sells  for  $175  ;  Di- 
ogenes, the  next,  brings  less  than  sixpence  ;  while  Socrates 
commands  the  high  price  of  two  talents.  Pyrrho,  the  univer- 
sal doubter,  will  not  believe  that  he  has  been  sold,  even  af- 
ter he  has  seen  himself  paid  for  and  delivered.  The  laughing 
Democritus  and  weeping  Heraclitus  fail  to  find  a  purchaser. 
The  attempted  'sale  of  these  two  philosophers  is  thus  de- 
picted : — 

"JUPITER. — Bring  out  .another.  Stay — those  two  there,  that  fel- 
low from  AMcra,  who  is  always  laughing,  and  the  Ephesian,  who  is 
always  crying;  I've  a  mind  to  sell  them  as  a  pair. 


290  GRECIAN   LITERATURE. 

MERCURY. — Stand  out  there  in  the  ring,  you  two. — We  offer  yon 
here,  sirs,  two  most  admirable  characters,  the  wisest  we've  had  for 
sale  yet. 

CUSTOMER. — By  Jove,  they're  a  remarkable  contrast!  Why,  one 
of  them  never  stops  laughing,  while  the  other  seems  to  be  in  trouble 
about  something,  for  he's  in  tears  all  the  time.  Holloa,  you  fellow ! 
•what's  all  this  about  ?  What  are  yon  laughing  at  ? 

DEMOCRITUS. — Need  you  ask  ?  Because  everything  seems  to  me 
so  ridiculous — you  yourselves  included. 

CUSTOMER. — What !  do  you  ineau  to  laugh  at  us  all  to  our  faces, 
and  mock  at  all  we  say  and  do  ? 

DEMOCRITUS. — Undoubtedly ;  there's  nothing  in  life  that's  seri- 
ous. Everything  is  unreal  and  empty — a  mere  fortuitous  concur- 
rence of  indefinite  atoms. 

CUSTOMER. — You're  an  indefinite  atom  yourself,  you  rascal !  Con- 
found your  insolence,  won't  you  stop  laughing  ?  But  you  there, 
poor  soul  [to  Heraclitus'],  why  do  you  weep  so  ?  for  there  seems  more 
use  in  talking  to  you. 

HERACLITUS. — Because,  stranger,  everything  in  life  seems  to  mo  to 
call  for  pity  and  to  deserve  tears ;  there  is  nothing  but  what  is  liable 
to  calamity ;  wherefore  I  mourn  for  men  and  pity  them.  The  evil 
of  to-day  I  regard  not  much :  but  I  mourn  for  that  which  is  to  come 
hereafter — the  burning  and  destruction  of  all  things.  This  I  grieve 
for,  and  that  nothing  is  permanent,  but  all  mingled,  as  it  were,  in 
one  bitter  cup — pleasure  that  is  no  pleasure,  knowledge  that  knows 
nothing,  greatness  that  is  so  little,  all  going  round  and  round,  and 
taking  their  turn  in  this  game  of  life. 

CUSTOMER. — What  do  you  hold  human  life  to  be  then  ? 

HERACLITUS. — A  child  at  play,  handling  its  toys,  and  changing 
them  with  every  caprice. 

CUSTOMER. — And  what  are  men  ? 

HERACLITUS. — Gods — but  mortal. 

CUSTOMER. —  A.nd  the  gods  I 

HERACLITUS. — Men — but  immortal. 

CUSTOMER. — You  speak  in  riddles,  fellow,  and  put  ns  off  with  puz- 
zles. You  are  as  bad  as  Apollo  Loxias,  giving  oracles  that  no  man 
can  understand. 

HERACLITUS. — Yea;  I  trouble  not  myself  for  any  of  ye. 

CUSTOMER. — Then  no  man  in  his  senses  is  like  to  buy  you. 

HERACLITUS.— Woe  !  woe  to  every  man  of  ye,  I  say !  buyers  or  not 
buyers. 

CUSTOMER. — Why,  this  fellow  is  pretty  near  mad — I'll  have  naught 
to  do  with  either  of  them,  for  my  part. 

MERCURY  [turning  toJupitei-]. — We  shall  have  this  pair  left  on  our 
hands  too." — COLLINS. 


"  The  Sale  of  the  Philosophers  "  has  a  sequel  in  "  the  Re- 


LUCIAN'S  DIALOGUES.  .    291 

suscitated  Professors."  Permitted  to  return  to  earth  for  a 
day  to  revenge  themselves  on  Lucian,  the  Philosophers  capt- 
ure him,  and  bring  him  to  trial  before  the  goddess  of  phi- 
losophy. He  clears  himself  by  showing  that  he  has  not 
attacked  the  venerable  sages  themselves,  but  only  the  im- 
postors who  cheat  the  world  under  their  great  names.  In 
the  beginning  of  the  Dialogue,  Lucian  is  thus  assailed  by 
the  belligerent  Socrates  and  his  confreres : — 

"  SOCRATES. — Pelt  the  wretch !  pelt  him  with  volleys  of  stories — 
throw  clods  at  him — oyster-shells !  Beat  the  blasphemer  with  your 
clubs — don't  let  him  escape !  Hit  him,  Plato  !  and  you,  Chrysippus ! 
and  yon  !  Form  a  phalanx,  and  rush  on  him  all  together.  As  Homer 
says — '  Let  wallet  join  with  wallet,  clnb  with  club  !'  He  is  the  com- 
mon enemy  of  us  all,  and  there  is  no  man  among  ye  whom  he  has  not 
insulted.  You,  Diogenes,  now  use  that  staff  of  yours,  if  ever  you  did! 
Don't  stop!  let  him  have  it,  blasphemer  that  he  is!  What!  tired 
already,  Epicurus  and  Aristippust  Aristotle,  do  run  a  little  faster! 
That's  good!  we've  caught  the  beast!  We've  got  you,  you  rascal! 
You  shall  soon  find  out  whom  you've  been  abusing !  Now  what  shall 
we  do  with  him  f  Let  us  think  of  some  multiform  kind  of  death 
that  may  suffice  for  all  of  us,  for  he  deserves  a  separate  death  from 
each. 

PHILOSOPHER  A. — I  vote  that  he  be  impaled. 

PHILOSOPHER  B. — Yes — but  be  well  scourged  first. 

PHILOSOPHER  C. — Let  his  eyes  be  gouged  out. 

PHILOSOPHER  D. — Ay — but  his  tongue  should  bo  cut  out  first. 

SOCRATES. — What  think  you,  Empedocles? 

E.MPEDOCLES. — He  should  be  thrown  down  the  crater  of  some  vol- 
cano,* and  so  learn  not  to  revile  his  betters. 

PLATO. — Nay — the  best  punishment  for  him  will  be  that,  like 
Penthens  or  Orpheus, 

'  Torn  by  the  ragged  rocks  he  meet  his  fate.' 

LUCIAN*. — Oh !  no,  no,  pray !  spare  me,  for  the  love  of  Heaven ! 

SOCRATES. — Sentence  is  passed :  nothing  can  save  yon." 

COLLIXS. 

Lucian  is  also  famous  in  another  line.  His  "  True  His- 
tory," a  burlesque  on  the  Munchausen  stories  of  the  old  poets 
and  historians,  recounts  the  stirring  adventures  of  a  party  of 
voyagers  who  sail  westward  from  the  Pillars  of  Hercules 


*  An  allusion  to  the  fate  of  Empedocles  himself;  see  p.  236. 


292  GRECIAN  LITERATURE. 

(Strait  of  Gibraltar).  It  describes  their  visit  to  the  moon, 
their  sojourn  in  a  country  where  wine  flowed  in  rivers,  their 
twenty  months'  experience  inside  of  a  sea-monster  that  swal- 
lowed their  vessel,  and  their  discovery  of  "the  Island  of  the 
Blest,"  with  its  golden -paved  city  and  vines  loaded  with 
monthly  fruitage.  The  lunarians  happened  to  be  engaged  in 
war  with  the  people  of  the  sun,  at  the  time  of  Lucian's  arrival, 
and  he  had  the  good  fortune  to  witness  a  grand  review  of  the 
lunar  army.  There  were  cavalry  mounted  on  lettuce-winged 
birds,  darters  of  millet -seed,  garlic  -  fighters,  wind  -  coursers, 
and  archers  who  rode  elephantine  fleas.  Spiders  as  large 
as  islands  hovered  on  their  flanks.  On  the  side  of  the  sun 
were  mustered  horse-ants  that  covered  two  acres,  archers  on 
colossal  gnats,  slingers  who  discharged  fetid  radishes,  and 
dog-headed  men  astride  of  winged  acorns. — Had  novel-writ- 
ing been  in  vogue  in  Lucian's  time,  he  would  no  doubt  have 
excelled  in  that  department  of  fiction. 

Pausanias,  the  Lydian  geographer,  was  a  contemporary  of 
Lucian's.  It  has  been  said  that  "  no  writer  of  antiquity  ex- 
cept Herodotus  has  stored  away  so  many  valuable  facts  in 
a  small  volume  "  as  he  in  his  "  Itinerary  of  Greece."  Pau- 
sanias made  art  items  a  special  feature  of  his  Itinerary. 

Other  Writers  of  the  Second  Century. — In  the  second  cen- 
tury, CLAUDIUS  PTOLEMY,  the  astronomer,  put  forth  his  theory 
of  the  universe :  that  the  earth  is  stationary  and  the  centre  of 
eight  huge,  hollow,  crystal  spheres,  placed  one  within  another. 
The  moon  he  located  in  the  nearest  sphere,  Mercury  in  the 
next,  Venus  in  the  third,  the  Sun  in  the  fourth,  Mars  in  the 
fifth,  Jupiter  in  the  sixth,  and  Saturn  in  the  seventh.  The 
eighth  sphere  he  appropriated  to  the  stars,  which,  despite 
their  distance,  were  still  visible  through  the  transparent  crys- 
tal. All  these  heavenly  bodies  he  believed  to  revolve  in  their 
respective  spheres  around  the  earth.  Ptolemy's  "  Syntaxis," 
or  "  Construction,"  embodying  these  views,  was  received  as 


THE   CHRISTIAN   FATHERS.  293 

authority  until  Copernicus,  fourteen  hundred  years  later, 
taught  the  true  theory  of  the  solar  system. 

In  this  century,  also,  JUSTIN  MARTYR  wrote  his  "  Apolo- 
gies "  in  defence  of  Christianity  against  paganism ;  and 
POLYCARP,  bishop  of  Smyrna,  his  "  Epistle  to  the  Philip- 
pians"  —  both  sealing  their  faith  with  their  blood.  From 
IRENJEUS,  bishop  of  Lyons,  we  have  inherited  a  valuable 
legacy  in  his  "  Treatise  against  Heresies." 

Orig'en,  the  gifted  pupil  of  Cle'mens  the  Alexandrian,  an 
ardent  Christian  philosopher,  flourished  in  the  third  century. 
Among  his  writings,  which,  including  his  discourses,  were 
numbered  by  thousands,  are  "  Commentaries  on  the  Script- 
ures," in  the  preparation  of  which  he  was  assisted  by  clerks 
who  wrote  in  short-hand  from  his  dictation.  Origen  also  re- 
plied effectively  to  CELSUS,  an  Epicurean  philosopher  who 
some  years  before  had  attacked  Christianity  in  his  "True 
Story,"  a  powerful  and  much-read  work  of  the  time. 

Neo-Platonism.  —  The  Academic  philosophy,  modified  by 
its  later  professors  and  wrapped  in  a  veil  of  mysticism,  gave 
rise  to  the  eclectic  school  of  the  Neo-Platonists,  which  was 
popular  among  the  learned  till  the  time  of  Constantine.  The 
seeds  of  this  philosophy  were  planted  by  Philo  the  Jew,  men- 
tioned on  page  104  as  attempting  to  reconcile  Plato's  doc- 
trines with  the  teachings  of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures. 

AMMONIUS,  of  Alexandria,  was  the  real  founder  of  Neo- 
Platonism,  which,  as  it  left  his  hand,  was  a  medley  of  Plato's 
and.  Aristotle's  tenets  harmonized  with  the  leading  doctrines 
of  Christianity.  Though  Ammonius  enjoined  his  disciples  to 
keep  the  mysteries  of  his  philosophy  to  themselves,  PLOTI'- 
NUS,  one  of  his  distinguished  pupils,  unfolded  them  in  his 
writings  and  taught  them  publicly  at  Rome,  where  he  went 
to  live  244  A.D. 

After  Plotinus,  PORPHYRY  became  a  shining  light  of  the 
Neo-Platonists ;  but  he  was  an  outspoken  opponent  of  Chris- 


294  GKECIAN   LITERATURE. 

tianity,  maintaining  that  the  world  was  without  beginning,  and 
denying  the  divinity  of  our  Saviour.  His  work  "  Against  the 
Christians"  was  afterward  burned  by  order  of  the  Roman  em- 
peror Theodosius  the  Great. 

IAMBLICHUS,  a  successor  of  Porphyry,  went  back  to  the 
mystical  speculations  of  Pythagoras,  and,  taking  quite  a  dif- 
ferent view  from  the  early  Neo-Platonists,  turned  his  phi- 
losophy to  the  support  of  paganism.  The  emperor  Julian 
the  Apostate  was  one  of  his  converts. 

EUSEBIUS,  the  learned  ecclesiastical  historian, '  bishop  of 
Caesare'a  in  the  fourth  century,  was  among  those  who  re- 
pelled the  assaults  of  Porphyry  on  the  Christian  faith.  He 
was  a  favorite  of  Constantine,  whose  life  he  wrote. 

Long-inns  (213-273  A.D.)  was  the  greatest  critic  and  most 
learned  philosopher  of  his  age.  He  studied  and  taught  at 
Athens,  and  by  reason  of  his  extensive  information  was 
styled  "  the  Living  Encyclopaedia."  The  most  distinguished 
of  his  pupils  was  Zenobia,  queen  of  Palmyra,  a  woman  of 
refined  tastes  and  unusual  talent.  By  his  advice,  she  revolt- 
ed from  Rome;  overpowered  by  the  emperor  Aurelian,  273 
A.D.,  she  sought  to  exculpate  herself  by  throwing  the  blame 
upon  her  counsellor,  and  Longinus  was  put  to  death. 

Part  of  this  author's  "Treatise  on  the  Sublime"  is  all  that 
remains  of  his  many  works. 

Athanasius. — A  century  after  Longinus,  lived  Athanasius, 
one  of  the  main  pillars  of  the  early  Christian  Church.  His 
life  was  spent  in  contentions  with  Arius  and  his  followers, 
who  denied  the  equality  of  Christ  with  the  Father ;  in  con' 
troversy  with  them,  his  vigorous  pen  was  constantly  employed. 

St.  Chrysostom  (golden-mouthed,  so  called  from  his  eloquence 
— 350-407)  was  the  most  famous  of  the  Greek  fathers.  He 
was  archbishop  of  Constantinople,  and  a  voluminous  writer 
of  homilies,  epistles,  and  commentaries.  His  language  is 
elegant,  and  his  fund  of  figures  inexhaustible. 


ROMANCE    AND   NOVEL   WRITERS.  295 

LIGHT   LITERATURE. 

Novel-Writers. — The  novel  and  romance  are  not  unrepre- 
sented in  Greek  literature.  HELIODO'RUS,  a  Phoenician  by 
birth,  who  lived  toward  the  close  of  the  fourth  century,  ob- 
tained a  well-deserved  reputation  as  the  author  of  ".^Ethiopi- 
ca,"  a  touching,  pure -toned,  but  somewhat  sensational,  ro- 
mance. Its  heroine,  Charicle'a,  an  Ethiopian  princess,  ex- 
posed by  her  mother  in  infancy  and  brought  up  in  ignorance 
of  her  birth,  with  her  lover.  Theagenes,  falls  into  the  hands 
of  pirates  and  undergoes  a  variety  of  adventures.  The  tale 
ends  happily,  quite  in  the  modern  style. 

Heliodorus,  later  in  life,  gave  up  novel-writing  for  a  mitre, 
being  made  bishop  of  Tricca  in  Thessaly. 

Another  Greek  novelist,  perhaps  a  contemporary  of  Helio- 
dorus, perhaps  belonging  to  a  later  generation,  was  LONGUS, 
author  of  the  "  Loves  of  Daphnis  and  Chloe."  The  scene  of 
this  pastoral  love-story  is  laid  in  the  groves  of  Lesbos,  where 
the  hero  and  heroine  have  grown  up  together  in  the  bonds 
of  innocent  affection,  d  la  "Paul  and  Virginia." 

The  "  Story  of  Leucippe  and  Cli'tophon,"  by  ACHILLES 
TA'TIUS,  an  Alexandrian  rhetorician  who  flourished  about 
500,  stands  next  to  the  "^Ethiopica  "  among  the  Greek  novels. 

Hierocles. — The  "Facetise"  of  Hierocles  (sth  century) 
must  not  be  forgotten  in  this  connection.  Though  a  Neo- 
Platonist,  grave  and  learned  enough  to  discuss  "  Providence 
and  Fate  "  and  make  a  volume  of  profound  commentaries  on 
the  Golden  Verses  of  Pythagoras,  he  evidently  enjoyed  a  good 
joke.  He  has  left  us  twenty-eight  brief  stories  of  Scholastic^ 
or  bookworms  so  unsophisticated  and  unused  to  the  ways  of 
the  world  that  we  may  call  them  simpletons.  A  few  of  these 
are  given  as  samples  of  his  humor ;  from  which  it  may  be 
seen  that  some  of  the  wit  that  passes  for  modern  is  as  old 
as  Hierocles. 


296  GRECIAN   LITEKATUEE. 

STORIES  OF  SIMPLETONS. 

A  simpleton,  "wishing  to  swim,  was  nearly  drowned;  whereupon 
lie  swore  that  he  would  never  touch  the  water  until  he  had  learned 
how  to  swim. 

A  simpleton,  visiting  a  sick  person,  inquired  about  his  health. 
He,  however,  was  not  able  to  reply.  Thereupon  the  simpleton,  being 
angry  and  scolding  the  man,  said :  "  I  hope  that  I  shall  be  sick  some 
of  these  days,  and  then  when  you  come  to  ask  how  I  am,  I  will  not 
answer." 

A  simpleton,  wishing  to  teach  his  horse  to  bo  a  small  eater,  gave 
him  no  food  at  all.  At  length  the  horse  having  starved  to  death,  he 
exclaimed :  "I  have  suffered  a  great  loss,  for  now  that  he  had  just 
learned  not  to  eat  he  has  died." 

A  simpleton,  looking  out  of  the  window  of  a  house  which,  he  had 
bought,  asked  the  passers-by  whether  the  house  was  becoming  to 
him. 

A  simpleton,  having  dreamed  that  ho  had  trodden  on  a  nail  and 
that  the  wound  pained  him,  on  waking  bound  up  his  foot.  Another 
simpleton,  having  learned  the  cause,  remarked :  "  It  served  you 
right,  for  why  do  you  sleep  without  sandals?" 

A  simpleton,  meeting  a  doctor,  hid  himself  behind  a  wall.  Some 
one  asking  the  cause,  he  answered :  "  I  have  not  been  sick  for  a  long 
time,  and  therefore  I  am  ashamed  to  come  into  the  sight  of  a  phy- 
sician." 

A  simpleton  had  sealed  up  a  vessel  of  Amiuaian  wine  which  ho 
had.  His  servant,  having  made  a  hole  in  the  vessel  beneath  and 
drawn  off  some  of  the  wine,  he  was  astonished  to  see  the  contents 
diminished  while  the  seals  remained  unbroken.  A  neighbor  having 
told  him  to  look  whether  it  had  not  been  taken  out  from  below,  he 
replied :  "  Why,  you  fool,  it's  the  upper  part,  not  the  lower,  that  is 
missing." 

A  simpleton,  meeting  another  simpleton,  said,  "  I  heard  you  were 
dead." — "And  yet,"  replied  the  other, "  you  see  that  I  am  still  alive." 
— "  Well,"  said  the  first  in  perplexity, "  I  don't  know  what  to  believe, 
for  he  who  told  me  is  much  more  deserving  of  confidence  than  you." 

A  simpleton,  learning  that  the  raven  would  live  more  than  two 
hundred  years,  bought  one  and  brought  it  up,  that  he  might  test  the 
matter. 

Of  twin  brothers,  one  died.  A  simpleton,  thereupon,  meeting  the 
survivor,  asked,  "  Is  it  you  that  died,  or  your  brother  ?" 

A  simpleton,  in  danger  of  being  shipwrecked,  called  for  his  tab- 
lets that  he  might  make  his  will.  Seeing,  thereupon,  his  slaves  la- 
menting their  lot,  he  said,  "Do  not  grieve,  for  I  am  going  to  set  you 
free." 

A  simpleton,  wishing  to  cross  a  river,  went  on  board  the  boat  on 
horseback.  When  some  one  asked  the  reason,  he  answered  that  ho 
wanted  to  get  over  in  a  hurry. 


T1IE   BYZANTINE    PERIOD.  297 

A  simpleton  and  a  bald  man  and  a  barber,  travelling  together, 
agreed  to  keep  watch  in  turn  four  hours  each  while  the  others  slept. 
The  barber's  turn  came  first.  He  quietly  shaved  the  head  of  the 
sleepiug  simpleton,  aud  when  the  time  elapsed  awoke  him.  The  lat- 
ter, scratching  his  head  as  he  got  up,  and  fiudiug  it  bare,  cried  out : 
"  What  a  rascal  that  barber  is ;  he's  waked  the  bald  man  instead  of 
me!" 

BYZANTINE   LITERATURE. 

The  list  of  sophists,  grammarians,  historians,  and  other 
writers  belonging  to  the  Byzantine  period,  contains  names 
without  number  and  without  lustre.  A  love-song  of  the  Jus- 
tinian era  (527-565  A.D.),  by  the  emperor's  privy-councillor, 
will  give  an  idea  of  the  poetry  of  this  age. 

THE  DKENCHED  LOVEE. 

"  The  voice  of  the  song  and  the  banquet  was  o'er, 
And  I  hung  up  my  chaplet  at  Glycera's  door, 
When  the  mischievous  girl  from  a  window  above, 
Who  looked  down  and  laughed  at  the  offering  of  love, 
Filled  with  water  a  goblet  whence  Bacchus  had  fled, 
And  poured  all  the  crystal  contents  on  my  head. 
So  drenched  was  my  hair,  three  whole  days  it  resisted 
All  attempts  of  the  barber  to  friz  it  or  twist  it ; 
But  the  water  (so  whimsical,  Love,  are  thy  ways!) 
WThile  it  put  out  my  curls,  set  my  heart  in  a  blaze." 

J.  H.  MKRIVALE. 

THE    GREEK    ANTHOLOGY. 

The  Anthology  (bunch  of  flowers)  is  a  collection  of  more 
than  four  thousand  short  pithy  poems,  from  the  pens  of  about 
three  hundred  Greek  writers. 

Melea'ger  was  the  first  gatherer  of  these  literary  flowers ; 
his  "  Garland  "  contained  choice  morsels  of  poetry  from  the 
time  of  Sappho  down,  many  of  the  best  pieces  being  the  work 
of  his  own  hand.  "«Meleager's  poetry,"  says  Symonds,  "  has 
the  sweetness  of  the  rose,  the  full-throated  melody  of  the 
nightingale."  Others  added  to  Meleager's  collection,  the  last 
ancient  anthologist  being  the  historian  Aga'thias,  who  flour- 
ished at  Constantinople  in  the  reign  of  Justinian. 

N 


298  GRECIAN  LITEKATUEB. 

The  pieces  of  the  Greek  Anthology  are  epigrams  and  fugi- 
tive verses,  amatory,  witty,  and  didactic.  Some  of  them  com- 
pare favorably  with  the  best  efforts  of  the  writers  already  con- 
sidered ;  while  not  a  few  are  plainly  the  sources  of  some  of 
the  household  sayings  and  proverbial  philosophy  of  modern 
times. 

FLOWERS  FROM  THE  ANTHOLOGY. 

A    PIOUS    ACT    REWARDED. 

"While  from  the  strand  his  line  a  fisher  threw, 
Shoreward  a  shipwrecked  human  head  he  drew. 
His  moistened  eyes  soft  drops  of  pity  shed, 
While  gazing  on  the  bald  and  trnnkless  head. 
No  spade  he  had;  hut  while  his  active  hands 
Scraped  a  small  grave  among  the  yielding  sands, 
A  store  of  gold,  there  Lid,  he  found.     Yes!  yes! 
Heaven  will  the  just  man's  pious  actions  bless." 

CARPIIYLLIDES. 

"Enjoy  your  goods  as  if  your  death  were  near; 
Save  them  as  if  'twere  distant  many  a  year. 
Sparing  or  spending,  be  thy  wisdom  seen 
In  keeping  ever  to  the  golden  mean." — LUCIAN. 

THE    PARTNERSHIP. 

"Damon,  who  plied  the  undertaker's  trade, 
With  Doctor  Cra'teas  an  agreement  made. 
What  linens  Damon  from  the  dead  could  seize, 
He  to  the  Doctor  sent  for  bandages ; 
While  the  good  Doctor,  here  no  promise-breaker, 
Sent  all  his  patients  to  the  undertaker." 

"  Swift  kindnesses  are  best ;  a  long  delay 
In  kindness  takes  the  kindness  all  away." 

THE    LESSON    OP   THE    TOPS. 

"An  Atarne'an  stranger  once  to  Pittacus  applied, 
That  ancient  sage,  Hyrradins'  son,  and  Mytilene's  pride ; 
'Grave  sir,  betwixt  two  marriages  I  now  have  power  to  choose, 
And  hope  you  will  advise  me  •which  to  take  and  which  refuse. 
One  of  the  maidens,  every  way,  is  very  near  myself; 
The  other's  far  above  me,  both  in  pedigree  and  pelf. 


EXTRACTS   FROM   THE    ANTHOLOGY.  299 

Now  which  is  best  ?'     The  old  man  raised  the  staff  which  old  men 

bear, 

And  with  it  pointed  to  some  boys  that  then  were  playing  there, 
Whipping  their  tops  along  the  street :  '  Their  steps/  ha  said, '  pur- 
sue, 

And  look  and  listen  carefully;  they'll  tell  you  what  to  do.' 
Following  them,  the  stranger  went  to  see  what  might  befall, 
And  '  Whip  the  top  that's  nearest  you !'  was  still  their  constant 

call. 

He,  by  this  boyish  lesson  taught,  resigned  the  high-born  dame, 
And  wed  the  maiden  '  nearest  him.'     Go  thou  and  do  the  same." 

ENVY. 

"  Poor  Diophou  of  envy  died, 

His  brother  thief  to  see 
Nailed  near  him,  to  be  crucified, 
Upon  a  higher  tree." 

THE    FLEAS    OUTWITTED. 

"A  countryman  once  who  -was  troubled  with  fleas, 
Jumped  up  out  of  bed  iu  a  thundering  breeze, 
And  triumphantly  cried,  as  he  blew  out  the  light, 
'  Now  I  have  you,  you  rogues,  you  can't  see  where  to  bite !' r 

LCCIAN. 
CURES   FOR   LOVE. 

"  Hunger,  perhaps,  may  cure  your  love, 
Or  time  your  passion  greatly  alter; 
If  both  should  unsuccessful  prove, 
I  strongly  recommend  a  halter." — CRATES. 

"Too  much  is  always  bad ;  old  proverbs  call 
E'en  too  much  honey  nothing  else  than  gall." 

THE    RAVEN   LOCKS. 

"  Chloe,  those  locks  of  raven  hair — 

Some  people  say  you  dye  them  black ; 
But  that's  a  libel,  I  can  swear, 

For  I  know  where  you  buy  them  black." 

LOVE  SONG. 

"  The  winecup  is  glad  :  dear  Zenoph lie's  lip 
It  boasts  to  have  touched,  -when  she  stooped  down  to  sip. 
Happy  winecup !     I  wish  that,  with  lips  joined  to  mine, 
All  my  soul  at  a  draught  she  would  drink  up  like  wine." 


300  GRECIAN   LITERATURE. 

"  Short  is  the  rose's  bloom ;  another  morn 
Will  show  no  rose,  but  in  its  stead,  a  thorn." 

IIELIODORA'S  GARLAND. 

('  I'll  frame,  my  Heliodora  !  a  garland  for  thy  hair, 
Which  thou,  in  all  thy  beauty's  pride,  mayst  not  disdain  to  wear; 
For  I,  with  tender  myrtles,  white  violets  will  twine — 
White  violets,  but  not  so  pure  as  that  pure  breast  of  thine : 
With  laughing  lilies  I  will  twine  narcissus;  aud  the  sweet 
Crocus  shall  in  its  yellow  hue  with  purple  hyacinth  meet : 
Aud  I  will  twine  with  all  the  rest,  and  all  the  rest  above, 
Queen  of  them  all,  the  red,  red  Rose,  the  flower  which  lovers  love.'1' 
MELEAGKU. 

GEMS  OF  GREEK  THOUGHT. 
HOMER. 

"  Mob  rule  is  not  good ;  let  there  be  one  monarch. — Victory  changes 
oft  her  side. — Pray,  for  all  men  require  aid  from  on  high. — Even  the 
fool  is  wise  after  the  event. — The  man  whom  Jove  loves,  is  a  match 
for  many. — Wine  leads  to  folly. — The  force  of  uniou  conquers  all. — 
Too  much  rest  itself  becomes  a  pain. — Noblest  minds  are  most  easily 
bent. — Few  sons  are  equal  to  their  sires.— To  sorrow  without  ceasing 
is  wrong." 

HESIOD. 

"  Emulation  is  good  for  mortals. — The  best  treasure  among  meu  is 
a  frugal  tongue. — Idleness,  not  labor,  is  disgraceful." 

PINDAR. 

"  Mirth  is  the  best  physician  for  man's  toils. — The  guilty  souls  of 
those  who  die  here  must  pay  the  penalty  in  another  life. — Point  thy 
tongue  on  the  anvil  of  trnth." 

AESCHYLUS. 

"He  hears  but -half  that  hears  one  party  only. — To  know  and  to 
conjecture  differ  widely. — To  be  without  evil  thoughts  is  God's  best 
gift." 

SOPHOCLES. 

"  Clamorous  sorrow  wastes  itself  in  sound. — Quick  resolves  are 
often  unsafe. — What  good  man  is  not  his  own  friend? — In  a  just 
cause,  the  weak  subdue  the  strong." 

EURIPIDES. 

"  The  Deity  helps  him  who  helps  himself. — Gold  has  greater  power 
over  men  thau  ten  thousand  arguments. — Temperance,  the  noblest 


GEMS  OF  GKEEK  THOUGHT.  301 

gift  of  Heaven! — To  form  devices,  quick  is  woman's  wit. — In  dark- 
ness a  runaway  has  mighty  strength. — Death  is  a  debt  that  all  mor- 
tals must  pay." 

ARISTOPHANES. 

"  To  fear  death  is  a  great  folly. — Old  men  are  boys  twice  over. — 
Poverty  is  a  sister  of  beggary." 

HERODOTUS. 

"  Rash  haste  ever  goes  before  a  fall. — Men  are  dependent  on  cir- 
cumstances, not  circumstances  on  men. — The  god  loves  to  cut  down 
all  towering  things.  The  god  suffers  none  but  himself  to  be  haughty. 
— The  hand  of  a  king  is  very  long. — Self-restraint  brings  blessings, 
not  seen  at  the  moment  perhaps,  yet  found  out  in  due  time." 

XENOPHON. 

"  The  sweetest  of  all  sounds  is  praise. — It  is  impossible  for  a  man 
attempting  many  things  to  do  them  all  well." 

PLATO. 

"  A  boy  is  the  most  ferocious  of  animals. — Wisdom  is  the  true  and 
unalloyed  coin. — Much  learning  brings  danger  to  youth. — The  race 
of  fools  is  not  to  be  counted. — Those  are  profane  who  think  that 
nothing  exists  except  what  they  can  grasp  with  their  hands. — Dogs 
are  like  their  mistresses. — Let  no  one  speak  evil  of  another. — Self- 
conquest  is  the  greatest  of  victories." 

ARISTOTLE. 

"  One  swallow  does  not  make  a  spring. — We  ought  rather  to  pay 
a  debt  to  a  creditor  than  give  to  a  companion. — Of  this  alone  is  even 
God  deprived,  the  power  of  making  that  which  is  past  never  to  have 
been. — The  beginning  is  said  to  be  half  the  whole. — All  flatterers  are 
mercenary. — No  one  loves  the  man  whom  he  fears." 

DEMOSTHENES. 

"  Success  tends  to  throw  a  veil  over  the  evil  deeds  of  men. — What 
we  wish,  that  we  readily  believe. — To  find  fault  is  easy." 

MENANDER. 

"  A  daughter  is  an  embarrassing  and  ticklish  possession. — He 
whom  the  gods  love,  dies  young. — Evil  communications  corrupt  good 
manners  (quoted  by  St.  Paul). — Whoever  blushes  seems  to  be  good. — 
Nobody  sees  his  own  faults,  but  every  one  is  lynx-eyed  to  those  of  his 
neighbor. — Love  blinds  all  men. — Silence  has  many  advantages. — 
He  is  well  cleansed  that  hath  his  conscience  clean. — There  is  noth- 


302 


GRECIAN  LITERATURE. 


ing  more  daring  than  ignorauce. — Truth,  when  not  sought  after, 
sometimes  conies  to  light." 


POLYBIUS. 

"Nothing  happens  without  a  cause. — Royalty,  aristocracy,  and 
democracy,  must  combine  to  make  a  perfect  government. — Many 
kuow  how  to  conquer;  few  are  able  to  use  their  conquest  aright." 

PLUTARCH. 

"Absolute  monarchy  is  a  fair  field,  but  has  no  outlet. — What  one 
does  not  need,  is  dear  at  a  penny. — Often,  while  we  are  delighted 
•with  the  work,  we  regard  the  workman  with  contempt. — Dead  men 
do  not  bite." 


MINOR    WRITERS    AND    THEIR    WORKS. 


OPPIAN  (second  century) :  didactic  po- 
ems on  fishing  and  hunting. 

ARRIAN  (second  century):  master- 
piece, "Expedition  of  Alexander  the 
Great." 

DION  CASSIUS,  a  Koman  senator  (born 
155  A.D.) :  "  History  of  Rome  "  in  80 
books,  from  the  earliest  ages  to  229 
A.D. 

>ELIAN  (second  century) :  a  zoology 
and  a  miscellaneous  history. 

APPIAN  of  Alexandria  (second  cen- 
tury) :  a  "  Roman  History "  in  24 
books. 

HERO'DIAN  (180-238  A.D.) :  "  History 
of  the  Roman  Emperors." 

DIOGENES  LAERTIUS  :  his  "  Lives  of 
the  Philosophers"  contains  a  valua- 
ble summary  of  the  Epicurean  ten- 
ets. 

GA'LEN  (second  century),  one  of  the 


world's  greatest  physicians :  medical 
treatises. 

MUS.EUS  ( fifth  century ) :  the  poem 
"  Hero  and  Leander." 

TRYPIIIODO'RUS  (fifth  century) :  poems 
on  the  Battle  of  Marathon  and  the 
sack  of  Troy;  a  lipogrammatic  Od- 
yssey, from  the  first  book  of  which, 
styled  Alpha,  the  letter  a  was  ex- 
cluded ;  from  Beta,  the  second,  b ; 
and  so  the  several  letters  in  turn 
through  its  24  books.  This  work 
is  lost. 

QUINTUS  SMYRN.EUS  ( 500  A.D.) :  his 
poem,  "Things  Omitted  by  Homer," 
a  continuation  of  the  Iliad. 

NONNUS  (sixth  century):  "the  Dio- 
nysiaca,"  an  Epic  on  Bacchus  in  48 
books. 

PROCO'PIUS  (nourished  550),  the  Byz- 
antine historian  :  "  History  of  his 
Own  Times." 


PART  III. 
ROMAN    LITERATURE. 


CHAPTER    I. 
LA  TIN  AND  ITS  OLDEST  MONUMENTS. 

Italy  Peopled. — While  watching  the  rise,  meridian  splendors, 
and  glowing  sunset  of  Grecian  letters,  we  have  left  unnoticed 
the  dawn  of  literary  taste  in  Italy,  the  sister  of  Hellas,  peo- 
pled, as  we  have  seen,  by  kindred  Phrygian  tribes  who  spoke 
dialects  of  the  Phrygo-Hellenic  tongue  (p.  133).  Whether 
they  were  the  first  of  human  kind  to  wake  the  echoes  of  the 
Italian  solitudes,  must  ever  remain  a  matter  of  doubt.  Some 
believe  that  the  Alps  had  proved  an  insuperable  barrier  to  pre- 
vious emigrants  from  the  East ;  others,  that  the  adventurous 
Pelasgians,  on  descending  their  slopes,  found  a  Turanian  pop- 
ulation already  in  possession  of  the  peninsula.  If  the  latter 
theory  be  correct,  the  Turanian  aborigines  were  speedily  over- 
powered by  the  new-comers  and  became  incorporated  with 
their  conquerors. 

When  Rome  was  founded,  753  B.C.,  the  predominant  Ital- 
ian races  were  distinguished  as  Latin  and  Umbrian  (embrac- 
ing the  Oscans) ;  their  languages  were  closely  related,  and 
have  been  called  Italic.  The  Etruscans,  who  lived  west  of  the 
Tiber,  though  probably  of  Aryan  origin,  differed  in  many  re- 
spects from  the  Umbrians  and  Latins. 


304 


ROMAN    LITERATURE. 


ANCIENT  ITALY 

and  the 

PLACES  NOTED 

in  the 
HISTORY  of  Its  LITERATTRE 


[See  the  above  map  for  the  various  localities  mentioned  in  connection  with 
Roman  Literature.] 

The  Latin  Language,  in  its  most  ancient  form,  was  probably 
spoken  by  the  people  of  Latium  at  least  twelve  hundred  years 
before  the  Christian  Era.  For  many  centuries  it  remained 
harsh  and  unpolished,  nor  did  its  roughness  materially  wear 
away  until  it  came  in  contact  with  the  Greek,  about  250  B.C. 
Then  its  vocabulary  was  enriched,  and  it  gradually  acquired 
elegance  and  beauty.  A  knowledge  of  Greek  came  to  be  re- 
garded as  indispensable  to  a  polite  education,  and  Roman 
children  were  taught  this  language  before  their  own. 

A  reaction,  however,  ultimately  set  in,  and  the  foisting  of 
foreign  words  and  idioms  on  the  native  tongue  was  con- 


THE    LATIN   LANGUAGE.  305 

dcmned  as  strongly  as  it  had  once  been  favored  ;  a  strange 
expression  was  now  compelled  to  run  the  gantlet  of  merci- 
less criticism  before  it  was  admitted  as  part  of  the  language. 
Caesar  advised  to  shun  a  new  term  as  one  would  a  reef; 
Augustus  frankly  acknowledged  that,  though  he  was  emperor 
of  the  world,  he  could  not  make  a  Latin  word  ;  and  Tiberius 
was  thus  pointedly  rebuked  by  a  Roman  grammarian  for  a 
verbal  error:  "Thou,  O  Caesar!  canst  confer  Roman  citizen- 
ship on  men,  but  not  on  words." 

When  the  rest  of  Italy  submitted  to  the  arms  of  Rome,  it 
accepted  the  language  of  the  conqueror.  Latin  also  sup- 
planted the  Carthaginian  tongue  in  Africa  and  Spain,  Celtic 
in  Gaul  and  Britain,  and  finally  was  spoken  in  greater  or 
less  purity  throughout  the  empire. 

In  its  perfection,  which  it  attained  during  the  first  century 
B.C.,  Latin  was  characterized  by  energy,  dignity,  and  preci- 
sion, its  power  and  gravity  compensating  for  the  lack  of  "At- 
tic grace."  According  to  its  system  of  grammar,  six  cases 
and  two  numbers  were  distinguished ;  nouns,  pronouns,  and 
adjectives,  were  declined ;  and  verbs  were  varied  in  form 
through  the  tenses  and  moods  of  two  voices.  Thus  the  Latin 
had  one  more  case-form  than  the  Greek,  but  lacked  the  dual 
number  and  middle  voice  of  Greek  and  Sanscrit. 

The  Latin  alphabet,  consisting  originally  of  twenty-one  let- 
ters, was  borrowed  from  the  Greeks  through  a  Dorian  colony 
at  Cumae.  Its  resemblance  to  the  Greek  may  be  seen  by 
turning  to  page  87.  The  Roman  system  of  notation  was  an 
Etruscan  invention. 

Ancient  Latin  Relics. — During  the  five  centuries  that  fol- 
lowed the  founding  of  Rome,  the  literary  history  of  the  city  is 
all  but  a  blank.  Curious  specimens  of  its  antique  tongue  are 
preserved  in  fragments  of  laws  and  a  few  inscriptions ;  but 
the  songs  of  the  first  Latin  bards  are  lost  forever.  The  le- 
gends of  Romulus,  the  seizure  of  the  Sabine  women,  the 


306  ROMAN   LITERATURE. 

stories  of  Lucretia  and  Virginia,  of  Coriolanus  and  Horatius, 
— these,  with  many  similar  traditions,  were  doubtless  the  sub- 
jects of  irregular  ballads  and  heroic  poems. 

The  rough  simple  verse  in  which  they  appeared  was  called 
Saturnian  ;*  it  is  supposed  to  have  been  adopted  from  the 
Etruscan  poets,  and  charmed  the  ears  of  the  Romans  until 
they  listened  to  the  more  tuneful  measures  of  the  Greeks. 
The  time -honored  Saturnian  verses  were  then  thrust  aside, 
with  the  old  lays  that  told  the  proud  conquerors  of  Italy  of 
their  humble  origin  and  early  struggles.  This  ballad-poetry 
may  never  have  been  written ;  sung  from  generation  to  gen- 
eration, it  was  kept  alive  to  grace  in  after -days  the  epic  of 
Ennius  and  the  pages  of  the  historian  Livy. 

The  oldest  existing  Latin  poetry  is  inscribed  on  a  tablet 
exhumed  at  Rome  in  1778.  It  is  a  chant  of  the  Arval  Broth- 
ers, an  association  of  priests  founded  under  the  Roman  kings, 
and  consists  of  an  invocation  to  Mars,  the  god  of  war,  to  avert 
pestilence.  Almost  as  venerable  is  a  fragment  from  a  Sali- 
an  Hymn,  sung  by  the  Salian  (dancing)  priests  in  honor  of 
Ja'nus. 

Extracts  from  the  Laws  of  the  Twelve  Tables  (450  B.C.), 
which  were  destroyed  in  the  early  wars,  have  been  collected 
from  the  works  of  later  writers.  The  old  Latin,  however,  is 
very  obscure ;  so  much  did  the  language  afterward  change 
that  in  the  golden  age  the  Salian  poems  were  enigmas  to 
the  Romans  themselves. 

There  are  also  traces  of  an  ancient  Umbrian  literature, 
which  has  perished. 

Age  of  native  minstrelsy,  753-250  B.C. :  early  poetry  composed  of  hymns,  fes- 
tal and  religious,  banquet  songs  and  funeral  odes  in  commemoration  of  heroes, 


*  From  Saturn,  an  ancient  Italian  god  fabled  to  have  instructed  the  people 
in  agriculture.  The  metre  was  accommodated  to  the  rapid  beats  of  the  foot  in 
the  country  dances  at  harvest-time. 


THE    DAWN   PERIOD.  307 

rude  satiric  verses,  and,  according  to  Niebuhr,  epic  poems  surpassing  the  works 
of  later  times  "  in  power  and  brilliance  of  imagination."  No  remnants  of  all  this 
literature. — In  prose,  a  primitive  oratory. 


CHAPTER  II. 

DAWN  OF  ROMAN  LITERATURE. 

As  Italy  received  hei  first  lessons  in  reading  and  writing 
from  the  Greeks,  in  law  -  making;  from  Solon,  in  art  from 
Phidias  and  Praxiteles,  so  in  polite  literature  she  drew  her 
inspiration  from  the  same  source.  The  early  Roman  writers 
not  only  took  their  cue  from  Greek  authors,  but  were  in 
some  cases  downright  imitators  ana  mere  translators. 

A  Greek  slave,  Livius  Andronicus,  who  may  be  called  the 
father  of  Roman  classical  literature,  translating  the  Odyssey 
into  Saturnian  verse,  introduced  his  captors  to  the  literary 
treasures  of  his  country.  Enraptured  Rome  eagerly  snatched 
the  crown  of  letters  as  it  fell  from  the  head  of  her  elder  sister, 
and  for  a  time  the  borrowed  jewels  sparkled  on  her  brow. 
But  she  paid  dearly  for  her  brilliant  ornaments ;  for,  with 
Greek  taste  and  culture,  came  also  Greek  effeminacy  and  vice. 

The  aim  of  the  first  Latin  writers  was  to  give  their  tongue 
the  same  polish  as  the  model  from  which  they  copied ;  but 
an  excess  of  foreign  graces  was  repugnant  to  the  genius  of 
their  more  stately  language,  and  it  was  soon  seen  that  the 
refinement  of  the  Greek  would  prove  fatal  to  the  vigor  of 
Latin.  Accordingly  the  Roman  orators  set  their  faces 
against  any  further  "Grecizing,"  and  struggled  as  manfully 
to  preserve  the  purity  of  their  vernacular  as  they  did  to  main- 
tain the  moral  purity  of  the  nation,  fast  drifting  into  the  dan- 
gerous quicksands  of  sloth  and  self-indulgence. 

The  sixth  and  seventh  centuries  of  Rome,  the  period  cov- 
N  2 


308  ROMAN   LITERATURE. 

ered  by  the  present  chapter,  saw  the  birth  of  the  regular 
drama  and  its  decline;  the  earliest  attempts  at  epic  and  satiric 
poetry ;  and  the  rise  of  a  vigorous  prose.  Livius  Androni'cus 
paraphrased  Greek  tragedies ;  Naevius  and  Ennius  not  only 
contributed  to  dramatic  literature,  but  called  epic  poetry  into 
being ;  Plautus  and  Terence  set  forth  a  feast  of  good  things 
in  their  comedies ;  Lucilius,  the  father  of  Roman  satire,  lashed 
vice  and  corruption  unsparingly  in  his  hexameters ;  and  Cato 
laid  the  foundations  of  Latin  prose. 

DRAMATIC  POETRY. 

The  Eoman  Drama. — While  in  the  later  and  more  devel- 
oped stages  of  Roman  literature  the  plastic  influence  of 
Greece  is  everywhere  perceptible,  in  the  earlier  days  there 
were  original  elements,  devoid  of  polish  indeed,  but  possess- 
ing the  rude  vigor  that  distinguished  the  nation.  There  was 
a  sort  of  drama,  for  instance,  native  to  Italy.  It  appeared  in 
its  primitive  guise  in  the  Fescennine*  dialogues  —  metrical 
songs  accompanied  with  rustic  dances — which  were  long  the 
delight  of  the  mirth-loving  Italian  country-folk.  When,  how- 
ever, the  improvised  jests  and  satires  of  these  entertainments 
opened  the  door  to  malicious  personal  abuse,  it  was  found 
necessary  to  prohibit  libellous  verses  by  law. 

The  merry  songs  called  Saturce  (from  the  satura  lanx,  dish 
of  various  fruits  offered  to  the  gods)  were  brought  upon  the 
Roman  stage  in  the  fourth  century  B.C.  A  flute  accompa- 
niment and  Etruscan  actors,  who  through  ignorance  of  the 
Roman  language  merely  played  the  part  of  dancers  and  pan- 
tomimists,  rendered  the  Saturae  highly  attractive.  At  a  later 
period,  these  medleys  formed  the  afterpieces  to  regular 
dramas. 

From  the  Oscan  town  Atella  in  Campa'nia,  the  so-called 


*  From  Fescennium,  an  Etruscan  town. 


LIVIUS    ANDRONICUS.  309 

Atdlane  Fables  derived  their  name — pieces  with  simple  plots, 
that  pictured  ancient  village-life  in  Italy,  with  its  inevitable 
characters  of  the  chatterbox,  the  sharper,  and  the  long-eared 
glutton.  It  was  no  disgrace  for  young  nobles,  appropriately 
masked,  to  improvise  the  dialogue  of  the  Atellane  Fable,  or 
sing  the  songs  in  Saturnian  verse. 

The  regular  Roman  drama  was  a  copy  of  the  Greek,  and 
first  saw  the  light  at  the  grand  celebration  over  the  downfall 
of  Carthage,  when  (240  B.C.)  a  real  tragedy  and  comedy  were 
represented.  Their  author  was 

Livius  Andronicus  (about  285-204  B.C.),  who  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  Romans  when  his  native  city,  Tarentum  in 
southern  Italy,  submitted  to  their  arms.  Brought  to  their 
capital  as  a  slave,  he  succeeded  in  obtaining  his  liberty  and 
opened  a  school  for  his  support.  The  wants  of  his  pupils  led 
him  to  translate  Homer's  Odyssey  into  Latin ;  he  thus  not 
only  provided  the  Roman  schools  with  a  text -book  which 
held  its  place  for  centuries,  but  inspired  the  people  generally 
with  a  strong  desire  to  become  acquainted  with  the  Greek 
masterpieces,  and  gave  a  spur  to  the  development  of  a  na- 
tional literature. 

Andronicus  was  no  less  successful  as  a  literary  caterer, 
when  he  put  upon  the  Roman  stage  his  Latin  versions  of 
certain  Greek  plays ;  yet,  though  the  public  relished  higher 
and  more  dignified  dramatic  performances  than  the  Fescen- 
nines  and  Saturae,  they  loved  the  latter  too  much  to  dis- 
pense with  them  entirely.  The  vulgar  off-hand  humor  of  the 
amateur  actors  in  these  performances  was  long  exceedingly 
popular. 

Andronicus  had  a  rough  theatre  assigned  him  on  the  Aven- 
tine  Mount.  In  accordance  with  the  fashion  of  his  day,  he 
played  entire  parts  without  assistance,  until  an  injury  to  his 
voice  obliged  him  to  delegate  the  recitative  passages  to  a 
boy,  who  sung  them  to  the  accompaniment  of  the  flute,  while 


310  IJOMAN   LITEKATURE. 

he  made  the  appropriate  gestures.  Thus  originated  a  cus- 
tom which  thereafter  prevailed  at  Rome, — that  of  having  two 
actors,  one  to  declaim  and  the  other  to  gesticulate. 

Livius  Andronicus  kindled  the  first  spark  of  literary  am- 
bition in  Rome,  and  paved  the  way  for  her  future  progress  in 
letters.  He  enjoyed  the  respect  of  his  contemporaries,  and 
was  honored  by  succeeding  generations,  though  Cicero  pro- 
nounced his  plays  unworthy  of  a  second  reading.  If  we 
except  a  few  doubtful  lines,  posterity  knows  his  dramas  only 
by  their  titles. 

Cneius  Nsevius  (269-204  B.C.),  a  Campanian  by  birth,  after 
serving  in  the  First  Punic  War,  took  up  his  residence  at  Rome 
and  there  made  dramatic  literature  his  profession.  His  first 
play  was  represented  about  235  B.C. 

The  Greek  dramatists  furnished  Ncevius  with  the  material 
for  his  tragedies  and  comedies,  in  the  latter  of  which — better 
adapted  to  his  genius,  and  therefore  more  original — he  par- 
ticularly excelled.  Closing  his  eyes  to  the  danger  of  satiriz- 
ing the  patrician  houses,  he  fearlessly  revived  the  personal 
attack  of  Aristophanes  in  his  ridicule  of  Scipio  and  the  Me- 
telli.  His  lampoons  directed  against  the  latter  cost  him 
dear.  The  verse  of  the  poet, — "  It  is  fate,  not  merit,  that  has 
made  the  Metelli  always  consuls  of  Rome," — stung  them  to 
the  quick,  and  they  procured  his  imprisonment.  Naevius 
employed  the  time  in  writing  comedies ;  and  after  his  libera- 
tion, nowise  daunted  by  his  previous  bad  fortune,  he  let  fly 
his  shafts  at  the  nobility  as  recklessly  as  ever.  Rome  could 
no  longer  tolerate  him,  and  sent  him  forth  from  her  gates  to 
die  in  exile. 

The  fate  of  Nsevius  proved  a  warning  to  future  comic  po- 
ets. None  were  ambitious  to  assume  the  role  which  he  had 
played  ;  but,  taking  Menander  for  their  model  rather  than 
Aristophanes,  they  sought  their  subjects  in  the  follies  and 
foibles  of  society  at  large. 


]O3  VIUS. — ENNIUS.  3 1 1 

So  far  as  we  can  judge  from  the  scanty  fragments  that  re- 
main, the  style  of  Naevius,  though  unpolished  (for  he  still 
wrote  in  the  old  Saturnian  verse),  was  nervous,  bold,  and 
pointed.  His  works  were  for  centuries  the  delight  of  the 
Romans,  who  admired  his  independence ;  while  succeeding 
authors  did  not  regard  it  unworthy  of  their  genius  to  borrow 
the  spirited  thoughts  of  Rome's  first  native  poet.  His  epi- 
taph read  as  follows : — 

"  If  gods  might  to  a  mortal  pay  the  tribute  of  a  tear, 
The  Muses  would  shed  one  upon  the  poet  Naevius'  bier; 
For  when  he  was  transferred  unto  the  regions  of  the  tomb, 
The  people  soon  forgot  to  speak  the  native  tongue  of  Eome." 

Sellar  thus  puts  in  English  the  old  Roman's  description  of 
a  flirt,  which  survives  from  one  of  his  comedies : — 

"  Like  one  playing  at  ball  in  a  ring,  she  tosses  about  from  one  to 
another,  and  is  at  home  with  all.  To  one  she  nods,  to  another 
winks ;  she  makes  love  to  one,  clings  to  another.  Her  hand  is  busy 
here,  her  foot  there.  To  one  she  gives  a  ring  to  look  at,  to  another 
blows  a  kiss ;  with  one  she  sings,  with  another  corresponds  by 


The  ablest  work  of  Naevius  is  an  epic  poem,  which  will  be 
described  hereafter. 

Ennius,  partly  Greek,  partly  Oscan  by  descent,  was  born  in 
Rudiae  in  southern  Italy,  239  B.C.  After  serving  with  honor 
in  the  Roman  army  in  Sardinia,  he  was  induced  to  visit  Rome 
by  Cato  the  Censor,  who  appears  at  one  time  to  have  been 
his  patron. 

Filled  with  a  desire  to  refine  the  taste  of  his  countrymen, 
Ennius  drew  upon  Euripides  for  their  benefit.  The  titles  of 
twenty-five  of  his  tragedies  survive ;  but  the  fragments  that 
are  preserved  of  these,  as  well  as  of  several  comedies,  show 
them  to  be  mere  copies  of  Greek  pieces.  Though  gifted  with 
poetical  genius  and  possessed  of  remarkable  learning,  Ennius 
found  imitation  easier  than  original  composition. 


312  ROMAN   LITERATURE. 

In  the  following  fragment  from  one  of  his  plays,  Ennius  de- 
nies the  providence  of  God  : — 

"Yes!  there  are  gods;  but  they  no  thought  bestow 
On  human  deeds,  on  mortal  bliss  or  woe  ; 
Else  would  such  ills  our  wretched  race  assail  f 
Would  the  good  suffer  ?     Would  the  bad  prevail  ?" 

It  is  not,  however,  as  a  dramatic  poet  that  Ennius  has  won 
distinction.  His  renown  is  based  on  his  "Annals,"  or  "Met- 
rical Chronicles,"  of  all  their  poems  the  favorite  with  the  Ro- 
mans, in  whose  minds  they  were  associated  with  the  heroic 
achievements  they  commemorated.  The  "Annals"  must  be 
reserved  for  the  present,  while  we  view  the  progress  of  com- 
edy in  the  works  of  Plautus  and  Terence. 

Titus  Maccius  Plautus  (254-184  B.C.),  a  contemporary  of 
Ennius,  was  the  first  great  comic  poet  of  Rome.  A  boorish 
country-boy,  he  left  his  home  among  the  mountains  of  Um- 
bria  to  seek  his  fortune  in  the  capital,  and  was  at  first  quite 
successful  as  a  stage -carpenter  and  decorator.  The  sobri- 
quet Plautus,  by  which  he  is  universally  known,  was  signifi- 
cant of  his  large  flat  feet;  nor  do  his  personal  peculiarities 
generally,  judging  from  a  self-painted  portrait  in  one  of  his 
comedies,  appear  to  have  been  of  a  very  prepossessing  type : — 

"A  red-haired  man,  with  round  protuberant  stomach, 
Legs  with  stout  calves,  and  of  a  swart  complexion  : 
Large  head,  keen  eyes,  red  face,  and  monstrous  feet." 

Unthrifty  as  he  was  uncomely,  Plautus  before  long  found 
himself  reduced  to  the  menial  employment  of  grinding  corn 
for  a  baker,  to  keep  body  and  soul  together ;  but  his  hard- 
ships were  the  making  of  the  man.  While  thus  engaged,  dur- 
ing his  unoccupied  hours  he  tried  his  hand  at  writing  come- 
dies. He  struck  the  right  vein  ;  play  followed  play  in  rapid 
succession  ;  the  author  rose  in  public  estimation,  and  during 
the  rest  of  his  life  reigned  without  a  peer  on  the  comic  stage. 


PLAUTUS.  313 

Modern  imitations  of  his  comedies  prove  how  lasting  has 
been  their  popularity. 

The  Greek  poets  inspired  the  pen  of  Plautus  ;  but  he 
paints  Roman  manners,  breathes  Roman  sentiments,  and  em- 
ploys the  idiomatic  conversational  Latin  of  his  time.  The 
tone  of  his  dramas  is  far  from  elevating ;  his  humor,  though 
bold  and  sprightly,  is  coarse ;  and  his  Greek  pictures  of  im- 
becile fathers,  dissipated  sons,  intriguing  slaves,  jealous  hus- 
bands, hungry  parasites,  and  disreputable  female  characters 
(for  all  other  female  characters,  except  servants,  were  studi- 
ously kept  in  the  background),  had  their  effect  in  undermining 
the  stern  old  Roman  virtue.  Yet  the  style  of  Plautus  is  flow- 
ing and  animated  ;  his  plays  are  full  of  bustle  and  fun  ;  and 
we  can  but  admire  his  fertility  of  invention  and  wonderful 
command  of  language.  Some  of  his  characters  are  not  un- 
worthy of  Shakespeare. 

Plautus  prefaced  most  of  his  comedies  with  prologues, 
which  served  the  purpose  of  modern  play-bills  in  that  they 
contained  brief  analyses  of  the  pieces.  Curious  requests  ap- 
pear in  some  of  these  :  women  are  asked  to  refrain  from  dis- 
turbing the  house  by  gossiping,  children  are  desired  to  keep 
quiet,  and  mothers  are  besought  not  to  bring  infants  to  the 
theatre. 

Twenty  comedies  of  Plautus  are  extant,  of  which  the  finest 
is  "  the  Captives."  Its  plot  is  as  follows : — 

During  a  war  between  Elis  and  ^Etolia,  Hegio,  a  rich 
^Etolian,  buys  at  a  sale  of  captives  Philoc'rates  and  Tyndarus 
his  slave,  hoping  to  possess  himself  of  a  prisoner  of  rank  to 
exchange  for  a  son,  who  has  /alien  into  the  enemy's  hands. 
To  effect  the  negotiation,  he  proposes  to  send  the  slave  to 
Elis  with  a  message  to  the  father  of  Philocrates,  who,  he 
learns,  is  a  man  of  wealth  and  standing.  The  devoted  Tyn- 
darus, however,  seizes  the  opportunity  to  restore  Philocrates 
to  liberty,  allowing  him  to  go  on  he  journey  and  remaining 


314  ROMAN   LITERATURE. 

in  his  stead,  a  change  of  apparel  having  been  made,  to  impose 
upon  Hegio.  The  parting  scene  between  the  two,  in  the  pres- 
ence of  their  master,  is  among  the  best  passages  of  the  play. 
The  disguised  Philocrates,  about  to  leave,  has  inquired  what 
message  he  shall  carry  to  the  captive's  father : — 

"TYNDARUS  (habited  as  Philocrates). — Say  I  am  well;  and 

tell  him  this,  good  Tyndarus, 
We  two  have  lived  in  sweetest  harmony, 
Of  one  accord  in  all  things ;  never  yet 
Have  you  been  faithless,  never  I  unkind. 
And  still,  in  this  our  strait,  you  have  heen  true 
And  loyal  to  the  last,  through  woe  and  want, 
Have  never  failed  me,  nor  in  will  nor  deed. 
This  when  my  father  hears,  for  such  good  service 
To  him  and  to  his  son,  he  cannot  choose 
But  give  you  liberty.     I  will  insure  it, 
If  I  go  free  from  hence.     'Tis  you  alone, 
Your  help,  your  kindness,  your  devoted  service, 
Shall  give  me  to  my  parents'  arms  again. 

PHILOCRATES  (as  Tyndarus). — I  have  done  this  :  I'm  glad 

you  should  remember; 
And  you  have  well  deserved  it :  for  if  I 
Were  in  my  turn  to  count  up  all  the  kindness 
That  you  have  shown  to  me,  day  would  grow  night 
Before  the  tale  were  told.     Were  you  my  slave, 
You  could  have  shown  no  greater  zeal  to  serve  me." 

Hegio  is  moved  to  tears,  and  exclaims  : — 

"O  ye  gods! 

Behold  the  honest  nature  of  these  men ! 
They  draw  tears  from  me.     Mark  how  cordially 
They  love  each  other !  and  what  praise  the  servant 
Heaps  on  his  master  I" 

Hegio,  however,  soon  discovers  the  trick,  and  condemns 
Tyndarus  to  the  quarries — a.  punishment  whose  horrors  the 
young  man  compares  to  "  the  torments  of  the  damned."  He 
is  freed  from  bondage  on  the  return  of  Philocrates  with  He- 
gio's  son — to  learn  that  he  also  is  a  son  of  Hegio,  stolen  by 
a  slave  in  his  infancy  and  mourned  as  lost  for  twenty  years. 
It  had  been  his  good  fortune  to  be  bought  by  the  father  of 


COMEDIES    OF   PLAUTUS.  315 

Philocrates,  and  to  grow  up  the   companion  of  the   young 
noble. 

After  this  happy  de'nouement,  the  play  closes  with  an  ad- 
dress to  the  audience,  valuable  for  the  view  it  gives  of  the 
characters  in  the  popular  comedy. 

"Gallants,  this  play  is  founded  on  chaste  manners; 
No  amorous  intrigues,  no  child  exposed, 
No  close  old  dotard  cheated  of  his  money, 
No  youth  in  love,  making  his  mistress  free 
Without  his  father's  knowledge  or  consent. 
Few  of  this  sort  of  plays  our  poets  find, 
T'  improve  our  morals,  and  make  good  men  better. 
Now  if  the  piece  has  pleased  you,  with  our  acting 
If  you're  content,  and  we  have  not  incurred 
Displeasure  by  it,  give  us  then  this  token : 
All  who  are  willing  that  reward  should  wait 
On  chaste  and  virtuous  manners,  give  applause." 

WARXER. 

Among  the  best-known  of  our  author's  comedies  are  "  the 
Twins  "  and  "  the  Three  Silver  Pieces."  In  the  former  a  se- 
ries of  laughable  incidents  grows  out  of  the  resemblance  of 
twin  brothers,  separated  for  many  years  and  suddenly  brought 
together.  To  this  play  Shakespeare  owed  the  plot  of  his 
"Comedy  of  Errors."  The  second  derives  its  name  from 
three  coins  paid  to  a  man  to  disguise  himself  as  a  foreigner, 
and  pretend  to  bring  a  dowry  of  a  thousand  gold  pieces  to  the 
heroine  from  her  father,  who  is  abroad  at  the  time.  The  un- 
expected arrival  of  the  father  changes  the  aspect  of  affairs ; 
but  the  marriage  takes  place,  and  everything  ends  happily. 

The  best  of  the  remaining  plays  of  Plautus  are, 


THE  BOASTFUL  SOLDIER  (Miles  Glo- 
riosus). 


THE  HAUNTED  HOUSE  (Moslellana). 

THE  LOST  CHILD  (Eptdicus), 
THE  SHIPWRECK  (Rudens). 

THE  PARASITE  (Curculio). 


AMPHITRYON. 

THE  YOUNG  CARTHAGINIAN  (Famulus). 


THE  POT  OF  GOLD  (^4  ulularia). 
THE  TWIN  SISTERS  (Bacchides). 


THE  TRICKSTER  (Pseudolus). 


Terence,  "  the  Prince  of  the  Roman  Drama,"  flourished  be- 


316  EOMAN    LITERATURE. 

tween  195  and  159  B.C.  Of  his  life  the  accounts  are  scant) 
and  unsatisfactory.  He  appears  to  have  been  a  Carthaginian 
slave-boy,  the  property  of  a  Roman  senator,  who  treated  him 
with  great  kindness,  gave  him  an  education,  and  at  last  set 
him  free.  The  youth's  mind  matured  early ;  and  when  only 
twenty-one  he  submitted  his  first  comedy,  "the  Andrian  Maid," 
to  the  aediles,  who  superintended  dramatic  representations,  for 
their  acceptance.  Referred  by  them  to  Caecilius,  a  comic  poet 
of  distinction,  he  repaired  to  the  house  of  the  latter  at  supper- 
time,  and,  humbly  seated  on  a  stool,  began  to  read  his  play. 
The  first  few  verses  revealed  to  Qecilius  the  genius  of  the 
young  author ;  he  beckoned  Terence  to  a  seat  beside  him, 
heard  him  through,  and  accepted  his  comedy  at  once. 

On  the  performance  of  "  the  Andrian  Maid,"  the  reputation 
of  Terence  was  secured.  His  plays  paid  him  handsomely, 
and  gave  him  the  entree  to  the  highest  literary  circles.  The 
great  men  of  Rome  became  his  intimates ;  among  others, 
Scipio,  the  future  destroyer  of  Carthage.  They  are  thought 
to  have  encouraged  Terence  with  the  view  of  elevating  the 
masses  through  his  dramas,  and  are  even  suspected  of  hav- 
ing lent  him  a  helping  hand  in  their  composition. 

After  completing  six  comedies,  Terence  sailed  for  Greece, 
to  travel  and  study  there.  He  is  believed  to  have  translated 
over  one  hundred  of  Menander's  plays.  None  of  these  ver- 
sions survive,  and  they  are  supposed  to  have  been  lost,  to- 
gether with  the  poet  himself,  on  the  return  voyage. 

Terence,  Carthaginian  though  he  was,  is  distinguished  for 
the  exceptional  purity  of  his  Latin  and  the  beauty  of  his  style. 
His  taste  was  cultivated ;  his  sentiments  were  pure ;  and  his 
plays  put  to  shame  many  a  licentious  comedy  of  the  English 
stage.  In  lively  humor  and  comic  effect,  however,  he  falls 
short  both  of  Plautus  and  his  Greek  originals.  It  was  in  al- 
lusion to  the  source  whence  he  borrowed  his  plots  that  Julius 
Cassar  addressed  him  as  "  thou  half-Menander." 


THE    PLAYS    OF   TERENCE.  317 

The  masterpiece  of  Terence  is  "  the  Self-Tormentor,"  a  copy 
of  one  of  Menander's  lost  plays.  Its  title  is  derived  from  the 
self-inflicted  punishment  of  Menede'mus,  an  Athenian,  who, 
having  refused  his  consent  to  the  nuptials  of  his  son  Clin'ia 
with  a  poor  but  virtuous  Corinthian  girl,  Antiph'ila,  and  thus 
driven  Clinia  to  enlist  as  a  mercenary,  is  stricken  with  re- 
morse, leaves  the  city,  and  imposes  on  himself  the  severe  toil 
of  farm-life. 

Chremes,  a  neighboring  country  gentleman,  noticing  how 
hard  Menedemus  works  when  there  is  apparently  no  necessity 
for  it,  inquires  the  reason.  The  first  scene  represents  a  con- 
versation between  the  two,  in  which  Menedemus,  after  asking 
his  neighbor  how  he  found  time  to  pry  into  other  people's 
affairs,  and  receiving  the  memorable  answer, — "  I  am  a  man, 
and  I  have  an  interest  in  everything  that  concerns  human- 
ity,"*— acquaints  him  with  the  state  of  affairs  as  told  above. 

The  love-sick  Clinia  now  returns,  and,  reluctant  to  go  to 
his  father's  house,  becomes  the  guest  of  Chremes'  son,  Clit'- 
ipho,  the  friend  of  his  youth.  At  his  entreaty,  Clitipho  sends 
a  slave  for  Antiphila ;  but  the  cunning  fellow  brings  at  the 
same  time  the  lady-love  of  Clitipho  himself,  the  dashing  beauty 
Bacchis,  introducing  her  to  the  family  as  Clinia's  mistress,  and 
passing  off  the  modest  Antiphila  as  one  of  her  servants.  The 
slave  thus  describes  to  Clinia,  Antiphila  and  her  employments 
when  he  came  suddenly  upon  her,  and  announced  her  lover's 
return : — 

"  Busily  plying  the  web  we  found  her, 
Decently  clad  in  mourning.     She  had  on 
No  gold  or  trinkets,  but  was  plain  and  neat, 
And  dressed  like  those  who  dress  but  for  themselves. 
No  female  varnish  to  set  off  her  beauty ; 
Her  hair  dishevelledj  long,  and  flowing  loose 
About  her  shoulders." 


*  When  the  Roman  audience  heard  this  sentiment,  they  shook  the  theatre 
with  their  applause. 


318  KOMAN   LITERATURE. 

Chremes  finds  Bacchis  a  very  expensive  guest,  and,  an- 
nouncing to  Menedemus  the  next  morning  the  return  of  his 
son,  tries  to  put  him  on  his  guard  against  the  extravagant 
tastes  of  Clinia's  supposed  mistress,  but  without  producing 
any  effect  on  the  father  thus  relieved  of  his  anxiety : — 

"  CHREMES. — First,  she's  brought  with  her  half  a  score  of  maids, 
Tricked  out,  the  jades,  with  gold  and  jewelry  ; 
Why,  if  her  lover  were  an  Eastern  prince, 
He  couldn't  stand  it — how  on  earth  can  you  ? 

MENEDEMUS. — Oh !  is  she  here,  too  ? 

CHREMES. —  Is  she  here,  do  you  ask  ? 

Oh !  yes,  she's  here.     There's  no  doubt  as  to  that. 
I  know  it  to  my  cost.    They've  had  one  dinner, 
She  and  her  party.     If  I  give  another 
Suuh  as  last  night,  why — I'm  a  ruined  man. 
She's  very  curious,  mind  you,  as  to  her  wines  ; 
Knows  the  best  brands — and  drinks  them.     '  Ha !'  she'd  say, 
'  This  wine's  not  dry  enough,  old  gentleman — 
Get  us  some  better,  there's  a  dear  old  soul !' 
I  had  to  tap  my  oldest  casks.     My  servants 
Are  driven  alraost  wild.     And  this,  remember, 
Was  but  one  evening.     What's  your  son  to  do, 
And  you,  my  friend,  that  will  have  to  keep  her  always  ? 

MENEDEMUS. — Let  him  do  what  he  will :  let  him  take  all, 
Spend,  squander  it  upon  her  ;  I'm  content, 
So  I  may  keep  my  son." — COLLINS. 

The  play  is  full  of  amusing  incidents, — the  intrusions  of  the 
eager  Clitipho  on  the  pretended  love-making  of  his  adored 
Bacchis  and  Clinia — the  indignation  of  Chremes  at  his  son's 
seeming  want  of  politeness — the  cozening  of  Chremes  by  the 
clever  slave  out  of  a  large  sum  for  his  young  master  to  give 
to  Bacchis.  The  discovery  that  Antiphila  is  Chremes'  own 
daughter,  whom,  at  her  birth,  his  wife  had  given  to  a  Corinthi- 
an woman  to  expose,  adds  fresh  interest  to  the  plot.  The 
marriage  takes  place  to  the  delight  of  all  parties.  Chremes  is 
persuaded  to  forgive  his  son,  who  promises  to  abandon  Bac- 
chis for  a  more  modest  wife.  The  "  Self-Tormentor  "  is  happy 
at  last,  and  can  afford  to  indulge  in  a  hearty  laugh  at  the  mis- 
fortunes of  his  neighbor. 


DECLINE    OF   THE    DRAMA.  319 

"  I  don't  profess  myself  to  be  a  genius — 
I'm  not  so  sharp  as  some  folk — that  I  know ; 
But  this  same  Chremes — this  my  monitor, 
My  would-be  guide,  philosopher,  and  friend, 
v     He  beats  me  hollow.     Blockhead,  donkey,  dolt, 
Fool,  leaden-brains,  and  all  those  pretty  names — 
They  might  suit  me;  to  him  they  don't  apply : 
His  monstrous  folly  wants  a  name  to  itself." 

The  extant  comedies  of  Terence  are, 


THE  ANDRIAN  MAID  (Andrid). 
THE  MOTHER-IN-LAW  (Hecyra). 
THE  SELF-TORMENTOR  (Heautontimo- 
roumenos). 


THE  EUNUCH  (Eunuchus). 

PHORMIO  (taketi  wholly  from  a  Greek 

comedy  of  Apollodorus). 
THE  BROTHERS  (Adelphi). 


Decline  of  the  Drama. — While  the  comedies  of  Terence 
were  drawing  crowded  houses,  tragedy,  which  Ennius  attempt- 
ed to  popularize,  that  the  heroic  examples  of  early  times  might 
be  emulated  by  his  countrymen,  was  successfully  cultivated  by 
his  nephew  PACUVIUS  "  the  Learned  "  (220-132  B.C.).  The 
thirteen  tragedies  of  Pacuvius  (an  accomplished  painter  as 
well  as  poet)  were  long  favorites,  particularly  with  the  educated 
classes.  The  finest  of  them,  "  Orestes  in  Slavery,"  contained 
the  famous  scene  between  the  bosom  friends  Py'lades  and 
Orestes,  in  which  each  offers  his  life  for  the  other.  At  its 
representation,  the  audience  leaped  to  their  feet  and  shouted 
their  applause. 

But  Rome  was  no  genial  home  for  the  tragic  drama,  and 
both  tragedy  and  comedy  soon  began  to  languish.  With 
Terence,  the  glory  of  the  Roman  theatre  expired.  Rope- 
dancing,  buffoonery,  and  the  games  of  the  circus,  offered  supe- 
rior attractions ;  and  as  the  Republic  lapsed  into  the  Empire, 
the  degenerate  taste  of  the  people  sought  gratification  in  the 
sports  of  the  arena,  where  gladiators  fought  together  or  with 
wild  beasts  hardly  more  of  brutes  than  themselves.  In  this 
first  period  of  the  national  literature,  the  history  of  the  Roman 
drama  is  written. 


320  EOMAN   LITERATURE. 

EPIC   POETRY. 

Naevius,  meanwhile,  ventured  to  appeal  to  the  popular  taste 
in  a  new  department  of  poetry,  with  his  epic,  "  the  (First)  Punic 
War  " — in  which  contest,  it  will  be  remembered,  the  poet  took 
an  active  part.  It  was  written  during  his  banishment  at  Uti- 
ca,  after  he  had  signalized  himself  as  a  dramatist  at  Rome, 
and  was  a  work  which  Cicero  said  "afforded  him  a  pleasure 
as  exquisite  as  the  finest  statue  ever  chiselled  by  Myron." 

"The  Punic  War"  entitles  Naevius  to  the  claim  of  original- 
ity as  well  as  genius.  The  episode  of  Dido  and  ^Eneas,  the 
career  of  Regulus,  and  other  soul -stirring  stories,  were  told 
in  its  Saturnian  lines ;  and  it  must  ever  be  a  matter  of  re- 
gret that  so  interesting  a  poem  is  virtually  lost  to  literature. 
Naevius  is  called  "the  last  of  the  native  minstrels." 

Ennius  (239-169  B.C.). — In  Ennius  we  are  introduced  to  a 
greater  epic  poet,  and  the  founder  of  a  new  school.  Brought 
to  Rome,  as  we  have  seen,  by  Cato,  he  taught  the  young  no- 
bles Greek,  translated  dramas  from  that  tongue,  and  devoted 
his  leisure  to  poetical  composition.  A  panegyric  on  Scipio 
decided  his  destiny ;  he  rapidly  rose  in  the  estimation  ef  the 
distinguished  men  of  the  time,  and  in  184  B.C.  was  made  a 
Roman  citizen  —  an  honor  to  which  Livius  Andronicus  had 
never  aspired,  and  which  Naevius  sought  in  vain. 

Though  a  friend  of  the  wealthy  and  powerful,  Ennius  him- 
self seems  never  to  have  been  rich  in  this  world's  goods.  A 
genial  bon  vivant,  he  spent  his  earnings  in  extravagant  living; 
and  much  of  his  poetry  was  written  while  he  was  confined  by 
the  gout,  a  disease  brought  on  by  intemperate  habits.  Hor 
ace,  perhaps,  exaggerates  his  failing  when  he  tells  us  that 
"Father  Ennius  never  sung  battles  unless  intoxicated."  The 
family  tomb  of  his  friend  Scipio  became  the  final  resting-place 
of  Ennius ;  and  from  his  time  the  name  of  poet  was  honored 
by  the  aristocracy  of  Rome. 


EPIC   POETRY   OF  ENNIUS.  321 

Ennius  owes  his  fame  chiefly  to  his  "  Annals,"  an  historical 
epic,  the  work  of  his  old  age.  Here  he  wove  together  the  an- 
cient legends  and  folk-lore  of  the  Romans  handed  down  in 
Saturnian  ballads,  with  later  accredited  events,  and  contem- 
porary history,  accomplishing  the  difficult  task  of  adapting 
the  old  Latin  to  dactylic  hexameters.  Greek  metres  hence- 
forth superseded  the  irregular  Saturnian  verse,  the  syllables 
being  arranged  according  to  quantity,  and  not  as  before  by 
accent.  Moreover,  the  language  was  indebted  to  him  not 
only  for  this  improved  versification,  but  for  fresh  elements  of 
strength,  and  grammatical  changes  for  the  better.  Thus  En- 
nius introduced  a  new  era  in  Roman  literature,  laying  solid 
foundations  on  which  his  successors  built.  He  is  recognized 
as  "the  father  of  Latin  song,"  and  it  has  been  well  said: 
"  Whatever  in  the  later  poets  is  most  truly  Roman  in  senti- 
ment and  morality,  appears  to  be  conceived  in  the  spirit  of 
Ennius." 

Ennius  had  a  high  opinion  of  his  own  talents ;  he  deemed 
himself  the  Roman  Homer,  and  claimed,  in  accordance  with 
the  Pythagorean  doctrines,  that  the  soul  of  the  Greek  bard 
had  passed  into  his  frame  from  the  intermediate  body  of  a 
peacock.  And  indeed  his  spirited  battle-scenes,  his  "  verses 
fiery  to  the  heart's  core,"  sometimes  recalled  his  sublime  pro- 
totype ;  while  an  air  of  antiquity  breathed  in  his  picturesque 
style  and  archaic  forms. 

The  poet's  self-praise  \\as  echoed  by  his  countrymen.  Cic- 
ero proudly  styled  him  "  our  own  Ennius ;"  Virgil  enriched 
the  y£neid  with  his  most  musical  verses ;  Horace  hailed  him 
as  "the  Calabrian  Muse."  The  triumphs  of  Rome  and  her 
heroes  were  often  told  in  the  verse  that  he  made  familiar ; 
even  during  the  Dark  Ages  his  works  remained  favorites,  un- 
til in  the  thirteenth  century  they  gradually  sunk  into  ob- 
scurity. 

The  versatile  genius  of  Ennius  displayed  itself  in  satires, 


322  ROMAN  LITER ATUBE. 

epigrams,  and  didactic  poems,  as  well  as  in  epics  and  dramas. 
A  curious  specimen  of  his  composition  was  his  metrical  trea- 
tise on  edible  fish,  a  compilation  from  a  number  of  existing 
works  on  the  subject. 

From  the  fragments  that  remain  of  "the  Annals"  (600 
lines  in  all)  we  present  one  of  the  most  pleasing  passages, — 
that  in  which  the  vestal  Il'ia  tells  her  elder  sister  a  dream 
she  has  had,  foreshadowing  her  great  destiny  as  the  mother 
of  Romulus,  founder  of  Rome. 

ILIA'S  DREAM. 

Quick  rose  the  aged  dame,  with  trembling  limbs 

The  light  to  bring ;  and  Ilia  then,  from  sleep  aroused, 

With  tears  and  terror  tells  her  wondrous  dream  : — 

"  Child  of  Eurydice,  by  our  sire  beloved, 

Through  all  my  fibres  fail  my  strength  and  life. 

A  goodly  man,  methought,  bore  me  away 

Through  pleasant  willow-groves  and  places  strange. 

Next,  all  alone  I  seemed  to  wander  desolate, 

And  slowly,  sister,  to  retrace  my  steps, 

Thee  seeking  but  not  finding  ;  nor  did  path 

Steady  my  steps.     Soon  a  familiar  voice — 

My  father's — thus  with  pitying  accents  spoke: 

'  Daughter,  'tis  thine  deep  sorrow  to  endure ; 

This  borne,  thy  great  good  fortune  then  is  sure !' 

He  spoke,  and  suddenly  departing,  gave 

To  my  fond  yearning  arms  no  sweet  embrace. 

Alas!  I  saw  him  not,  though  eagerly 

To  the  blue  vault  of  heaven  I  stretched  my  hands, 

And  called  on  him  with  loving  tones.     At  last, 

With  aching  heart  sleep  left  me,  and  I  woke." 

The  "Annals  "  were  continued,  and  Homer's  Iliad  was  ren- 
dered into  Latin  hexameters,  by  imitators  of  Ennius.  But 
they  were  third  or  fourth  rate  men,  and  epic  poetry  really 
slumbered  after  Ennius  passed  from  the  stage,  till  it  wakened 
to  new  triumphs  at  the  call  of  Virgil. 

SATIRIC   POETRY. 

In  this  era,  we  have  to  chronicle  the  birth  of  a  new  plant  in 
the  parterre  of  Roman  literature  —  Satirical  Poetry.  It  was 


LUCILIUS.  323 

no  exotic,  but  native-born.  The  germ  appeared  in  Naavius, 
the  bud  in  Ennius,  the  full-blown  blossom  in  Lucilius,  the 
ripe  fruit  in  the  golden  age  of  Augustus ;  the  leaves  were 
still  green  in  the  declining  days  of  the  empire. 

Lucilius  (148-103  B.C.),  a  Roman  knight  who  fought  under 
Scipio  at  the  siege  of  Numantia,  converted  the  miscellanies 
(sat lira)  of  Ennius  into  true  satire.  Though  a  mere  youth, 
he  was  intimate  with  Rome's  greatest  statesmen,  who  were 
accustomed  to  doff  their  dignity  in  his  lively  society,  and  even 
to  frolic  with  him  before  dinner.  Shielded  by  them,  and  tak- 
ing as  his  standard  the  stern  morality  and  lofty  patriotism  of 
the  fathers,  he  assailed  with  impunity  prevalent  social  vices, 
ridiculed  superstition,  and  denounced  political  corruption. 

In  bold  relief  against  this  dark  background  he  brought  out 
the  noble  qualities  of  Scipio.  Always  arrayed  on  the  side  of 
virtue,  he  devoted  his  brilliant  talents  to  the  improvement  of 
the  public  morals.  Yet  he  occasionally  stooped  to  abuse,  if 
we  may  believe  the  story  that,  having  once  sued  a  person  for 
attacking  his  character,  he  lost  his  case  because  it  was  shown 
that  he  himself  was  not  above  similar  practices. 

The  satires  of  Lucilius  were  embraced  in  thirty  books,  many 
fragments  of  which  are  extant.  His  style  is  forcible  and  not 
without  elegance,  though  some  of  his  verses  are  harsh  and  oc- 
casional Greek  words  lower  the  standard  of  his  Latinity.  He 
composed  with  haste,  often  standing  on  one  foot  while  he 
dictated  two  hundred  verses.  His  satires,  had  they  been 
preserved,  would  have  been  valuable  as  a  mirror  of  Roman 
manners. 

VIRTUE  AS  DEFINED  BY  LUCILIUS. 

"  Virtue,  Albinns,  consists  in  being  able  to  give  their  true  worth 
to  the  things  on  which  we  are  engaged,  among  which  we  live.  The 
virtue  of  a  man  is  to  understand  the  real  meaning  of  each  thing:  to 
understand  what  is  right,  useful,  honorable,  for  him;  what  things 
are  good,  what  bad,  what  is  unprofitable,  base,  dishonorable ;  to 
know  the  due  limit  and  measure  iu  making  money;  to  give  its  prop- 

o 


324  ROMAN    LITERATURE. 

er  worth  to  wealth ;  to  assign  what  is  really  due  to  honor ;  to  be  a 
foe  and  enemy  of  bad  men  and  bad  principles ;  to  stand  by  good 
men  and  good  principles ;  to  extol  the  good,  to  wish  them  well,  to 
be  their  friend  through  life.  Lastly,  it  is  true  worth  to  look  on  our 
country's  weal  as  the  chief  good  ;  next  to  that,  the  weal  of  our  par- 
ents ;  third  and  last,  onr  own  weal." — SELLAR. 

EARLY    LATIX    PROSE. 

In  her  prose,  Rome  owed  but  little  to  Greece.  Had  she 
never  known  the  Greek  masters,  she  might  not  have  pro- 
duced a  poetical  literature,  but  she  would  have  had  her  great 
orators  and  historians.  Statesmanship  was  the  natural  pro- 
fession of  her  nobles  and  educated  men ;  jurisprudence  and 
oratory  were  essential  accomplishments  of  the  aspirant  to 
public  honors ;  and  Latin  was  peculiarly  adapted  to  prose 
composition,  which  appears  to  have  been  practised  very  early 
in  Latium.  The  development  of  this  primitive,  yet  nervous, 
prose  was  not  left  to  Greek  slaves  and  freedmen,  but  called 
forth  the  efforts  of  the  foremost  citizens, — Cato  the  Censor, 
Lffilius  and  Scipio,  the  Gracchus  brothers,  Crassus  and  An- 
tonius,  Hortensius.  In  the  period  under  consideration  it 
began  to  lose  its  ruggedness,  and  acquire  polish,  grace,  and 
harmony. 

Cato  (234-149  B.C.). — The  early  historians  of  Rome,  fol- 
lowing the  example  of  FABIUS  PICTOR,  the  first  of  her  prose 
annalists,  employed  the  Greek  language.  It  was  the  elder 
Cato,  the  Censor  and  moralist,  the  inflexible  enemy  of  all  that 
was  Greek,  whose  warning  voice  foretold  the  national  corrup- 
tion that  must  follow  the  introduction  of  Hellenic  literature ; 
it  was  Cato,  the  philosopher,  orator,  and  historian,  who  digni- 
fied Latin  prose  by  embodying  in  it  his  vigorous  thoughts. 

Inured  from  boyhood  to  hard  toil  and  simple  fare  on  his 
father's  Sabine  farm,  Cato  took  an  active  part  in  the  war 
against  Hannibal,  returning  after  the  conflict  to  his  humble 
rustic  life.  But  his  country  soon  demanded  his  services  in 
another  field  ;  at  her  bar  he  won  even  greater  glory,  and  she 


CATO   THE    CENSOR.  325 

rewarded  him  with  every  office  in  her  gift.  Cato  nobly  dis- 
charged his  various  trusts ;  but  it  is  as  the  uncompromising 
foe  of  effeminacy  and  vice  that  we  know  him  best.  His  polit- 
ical life,  a  model  of  economy  and  uprightness,  was  a  ceaseless 
battle  with  corruption  —  a  struggle  to  banish  the  luxury  he 
despised  and  restore  the  stern  virtue  of  his  fathers.  But  it 
was  one  man  against  a  nation,  and  the  current  was  too  strong 
for  one  alone  to  stem.  He  served  Rome  to  the  bitter  end, 
and  fell  in  the  traces  at  the  age  of  ninety,  his  energies  unim- 
paired, his  purpose  unshaken. 

Amid  all  his  active  duties,  Cato,  whose  constitution  like 
his  will  was  of  iron,  found  time  for  literary  work.  He  is 
known  to  have  written  at  least  one  hundred  and  fifty  orations, 
not  without  faults  of  style,  for  the  amenities  he  was  too  apt  to 
disregard,  but  cogent  in  their  reasoning,  clear  and  powerful  in 
expression.  Mutilated  remains  of  his  practical  hand-book 
"  on  Agriculture  "  are  extant,  which  show  him  to  have  been 
familiar  with  all  the  details  of  the  farm  and  garden.  In  a 
work  on  medicine,  dedicated  to  his  son,  he  exclaims  against 
the  Greek  physicians,  and  recommends  the  simple  remedies 
which  he  had  always  found  efficacious.  His  prejudice  against 
medical  men  was  founded  on  the  belief  that  their  introduc- 
tion from  Greece  was  a  deep-laid  plot  to  poison  his  fellow- 
citizens  ;  moreover,  he  knew  that  Rome  had  thriven  marvel- 
lously for  five  centuries,  in  blissful  ignorance  of  the  medical 
faculty. 

Gate's  chief  work  was  his  "  Origines  "  (in  seven  books),  a 
history  of  his  country,  deriving  its  name  from  the  first  three 
books,  which  discussed  the  origin  of  Rome  and  the  Italian 
states.  The  aged  patriot  prepared  this  treatise  just  before 
his  death,  to  throw  it  into  the  scale  against  Greek  influence ; 
but  not  a  hundred  Catos  could  have  turned  the  balance  then. 
The  loss  of  the  "  Origines  "  is  an  irreparable  one  to  archae- 
ology. 


326  ROMAN    LITERATURE. 

SPECIMENS   OF  CATO'S   STYLE. 

"  For  myself,  I  think  well  of  .1  merchant  as  a  man  of  energy  and 
studious  of  gain  ;  but  it  is  a  career  that  leads  to  danger  and  ruin. 
Fanning,  however,  makes  the  bravest  men  and  the  sturdiest  sol- 
diers; and  of  all  sources  of  gain  is  the  surest,  the  most  natural,  and 
the  least  invidious.  Those  who  are  busy  with  it  have  the  fewest 
bad  thoughts." — TREATISE  ox  AGRICULTURE. 

"Buy  not  what  you  want,  but  what  you  must  have;  what  you 
don't  want  is  dear  at  a  farthing."  —  "Men  are  worn  out  by  hard 
work  ;  but  if  they  do  no  work,  rest  and  sloth  injure  them  more  than 
exercise." 

HEROISM   OF   CLEDICIUS. 

During  the  First  Punic  War  the  Roman  army  was  surprised  and 
threatened  with  destruction,  when  Cuedicius  the  Tribune  promptly 
volunteered  to  engage  the  enemy  with  400  men,  while  the  rest  es- 
caped. The  little  band  was  cut  down  to  a  man. 

"The  immortal  gods,"  said  Cato,  "granted  the  tribune  a  lot  ac- 
cording to  his  valor.  For  thus  it  came  to  pass.  Though  he  had  re- 
ceived many  wounds,  none  proved  mortal;  and  when  his  comrades 
recognized  him  among  the  dead,  faint  from  loss  of  blood,  they  took 
him  up  and  he  recovered.  But  it  makes  a  vast  difference  in  what 
country  a  generous  action  is  performed.  Leonidas  of  Lacedsemon, 
who  performed  a  similar  exploit  at  Tliermopylje,  is  praised.  On  ac- 
count of  his  valor,  united  Greece  testified  her  gratitude  in  every  pos- 
sible way,  and  adorned  his  exploit  with  monumental  records,  pict- 
ures, statues,  eulogies,  histories.  The  Roman  tribune  gained  but 
faint  praise,  and  yet  he  had  done  the  same  and  saved  the  republic." 
— ORIGINES. 

Laelius  and  Scipio  followed  Cato,  and  improved  upon  his 
rude  eloquence.  Their  speeches,  which  were  committed  to 
writing,  bore  the  impress  of  learning  and  genius. 

The  Gracchi  (169-121  B.C.),  sons  of  the  noble  Cornelia, 
Scipio's  daughter,  to  whom  they  owed  their  early  education, 
introduced  a  new  era  in  Roman  eloquence,  and  have  been 
called  "  the  founders  of  classical  Latin."  Both  gave  up  their 
lives  in  the  interest  of  the  Commons. 

Tiberius,  the  elder,  was  the  impersonation  of  clear-headed, 
dispassionate,  argumentative  oratory.  Caius,  the  younger,  of 
greater  intellectual  power,  declaimed  with  such  impetuosity 
that  it  was  his  custom  to  keep  a  slave  at  his  side  to  remind 


THE    EAELY    ORATORS.  327 

him  with  the  note  of  a  flute  when  his  vehemence  became  im- 
moderate. Cicero  inclined  to  the  belief  that,  had  not  Caius 
Gracchus  met  an  untimely  death,  he  would  have  been  the 
most  brilliant  representative  of  Roman  eloquence.  Nothing 
remains  of  the  speeches  of  Tiberius,  and  the  few  fragments 
we  possess  of  Caius  indicate  a  want  of  finish. 

Antonius  and  Crassus  were  the  most  distinguished  speak- 
ers of  the  period  that  separated  the  Gracchi  from  Cicero. 
Both  were  diligent  students  of  Greek  literature,  though  both 
sought  to  conceal  their  indebtedness  to  it.  Crassus  excelled 
in  the  elegance  of  his  language;  Antonius,  in  gesture. 

Hortensius  (114-50  B.C.).— Crassus,  in  the  last  year  of  his 
life,  highly  complimented  the  young  Hortensius,  whose  prom- 
ise as  an  orator  he  was  quick  to  discern.  After  the  death 
of  Antonius  (87  B.C.),  Hortensius  became  "prince  of  the 
Roman  bar,"  a  position  which  he  enjoyed  until  eclipsed  by 
the  superior  genius  of  Cicero  (70  B.C.).  During  his  early 
manhood  he  labored  with  untiring  industry,  turning  his  re- 
markable memory  to  good  account.  His  style  was  ornate, 
his  voice  perfect ;  his  gestures  were  so  graceful  that  actors 
came  to  learn  their  art  from  him  ;  never  before  had  Rome 
listened  to  a  flow  of  language  so  copious  and  elegant.  As  a 
matter  of  course  his  services  were  in  great  demand,  and 
hardly  a  day  passed  in  which  he  did  not  either  speak  or 
prepare  a  speech. 

Thus  Hortensius  accumulated  a  vast  fortune,  which  proved 
his  stumbling-block.  Wealth  begot  a  love  of  luxury,  his  en- 
ergy gave  way  to  indolence,  and  he  quietly  yielded  the  first 
place  to  his  youthful  rival.  His  luxurious  villas,  with  their 
deer-parks,  and  gardens  whose  plants  he  watered  with  wine, 
were  more  to  Hortensius  than  the  victories  of  the  forum.  In 
these  charming  retreats  he  loved  to  entertain  his  friends,  and 
exhibit  to  them  his  menagerie  and  tame  fish — for  which  Ire 
showed  more  concern  than  for  his  servants.  The  death  of  a 


328 


KOMAN    LITERATURE. 


favorite  lamprey  affected  him  to  tears.  At  his  luxurious  man- 
sion in  Rome,  the  nucleus  of  the  future  imperial  palace,  pea- 
cocks were  served  for  the  first  time  at  a  feast. 

The  orator's  tastes,  however,  were  esthetic  as  well ;  he 
wrote  poetry,  and  expended  large  sums  on  statues  and  paint- 
ings. His  orations  are  lost.  Only  the  merest  fragments  of 
all  the  above  prose  writers  survive. 


MINOR    DRAMATIC    POETS. 
LAVINIUS,  the   rival   of  Terence,  who    TURPILIUS  (125  B.C.),  a  popular  comic 


jealously  interrupted  the  perform- 
ance of  the  "  Eunuch,"  denouncing 
its  author  as  a  plagiarist;  yet  this 
play  brought  Terence  more  than  had 
ever  before  been  paid  for  a  comedy. 


poet. 

Accius  (170-94  B.C.),  the  last  of  the 
tragic  poets;  37  tragedies,  borrowed 
to  a  great  extent  from  the  Greek; 
diction  majestic  and  eloquent. 


Early  Roman  theatres,  temporary  wooden  structures;  first  stone  theatre  built 
by  Pompey  (55  B.C.),  capable  of  accommodating  40,000  spectators.  Potnpey's 
example  promptly  followed  by  others.  The  orchestra  reserved  for  the  chief  men 
of  Rome,  and  not  occupied  by  the  chorus 'as  in  ancient  Greece.  Awnings  for 
theatres  invented  by  the  Romans.  The  vast  size  of  the  later  theatres  obliged 
the  actors  to  wear  masks  with  features  much  larger  than  life  and  arranged  at 
the  mouth  so  as  to  give  additional  force  to  the  voice. 


MINOR    PROSE    WRITERS. 


HISTORIANS. 

FABIUS  PICTOR  :  "  Annals  "  of  Rome, 
from  the  founding  of  the  city  to  the 
end  of  the  Second  Punic  War ;  care- 
less and  inaccurate. 

CINCIUS  (210  B.C.) :  a  truthful  and  dili- 
gent annalist. 

ACILIUS  GLABRIO  (180  B.C.)  :  History 
of  Rome. 

CALPURNIUS  Prso :  "  Annals ;"  style 
barren  and  lifeless. 

SISEXNA  (119-67  B.C.):  History  of 
Rome  from  the  destruction  of  the 
city  by  the  Gauls. 


ORATORS. 

GAT/RA  (180-136  B.C.)  :  first  master  of 
Greek  rhetoric;  vehemence  and  ar- 
tifice his  characteristics. 

CARBO  (164-119  B.C.)  :  an  unscrupu- 
lous, but  sweet-voiced  and  powerful 
pleader. 

RUTILIUS  (158-78  B.C.):  a  distin- 
guished jurist. 

CATUI.US :    graceful    and    elegant;    a 

master  of  pure  Latin. 
COTTA:  soft-spoken  and  courteous;  his 

eloquence  of  the  sweet,  persuasive 

kind. 


THE    GOLDEN    AGE.  329 

Study  of  grammar  introduced  by  Crates,  who,  fortunately  for  the  Romans, 
broke  his  leg  while  on  an  embassy  to  their  city  from  the  king  of  Pergamus  (156 
B.C.))  and  during  his  convalescence  lectured  on  philology  at  Rome.  The  earli- 
est works  on  Roman  law  were  produced  during  this  period. 


CHAPTER  III. 
GOLDEN  AGE  OF  ROMAN  LITERATURE. 

(B.C.  80-14  A.D.) 

Divisions  and  Ornaments. — The  Golden  Age,  which  now 
engages  our  attention,  is  naturally  divided  into  two  distinct 
periods,  bearing  the  names  of  Cicero,  the  greatest  of  Ro- 
man writers,  and  Augustus,  the  founder  of  the  empire  and 
patron  of  letters. 

In  the  Ciceronian  Period  (80-43  B.C.),  a  stormy  era  of 
conspiracy  as  well  as  conquest — marked  by  Catiline's  formi- 
dable attempt  to  destroy  the  commonwealth,  by  the  civil  war 
of  Caesar  and  Pompey,  and  the  murder  of  these  renowned 
leaders — political  eloquence  and  history  monopolized  the  at- 
tention of  the  master  minds  of  Rome.  As  a  consequence, 
Latin  prose  matured  early  in  the  golden  age ;  while  poetry 
boasted  of  no  ornaments  until,  at  the  close  of  the  Cicero- 
nian Period,  Lucretius  penned  his  philosophical  poem  "  On 
the  Nature  of  Things,"  and  Catullus  produced  his  erotic  odes 
and  elegies. 

In  the  Augustan  Period  (B.C.  42-14  A.D.),  the  greatest 
of  Roman  poets,  Virgil  and  Horace,  lived  and  wrote,  prose 
playing  a  secondary  part.  Tibullus  and  Propertius  put  forth 
their  sweet  elegies,  and  Ovid  his  amatory  pieces.  Even  the 
pages  of  Livy's  history  are  aglow  with  poetical  coloring.  But 
the  blossom  was  as  transient  as  it  was  beautiful,  and  expand- 
ed only  to  die. 


330 


ROMAN   LITERATURE. 


PROSE    WRITERS    OP   THE    CICERONIAN   PERIOD. 

Marcus  Tullius  Cicero  (106-43  B.C.)  was  born  at  Arpi'- 
num,  a  Latian  town  south-east  of  Rome.  As  his  family  (of 
equestrian  rank)  had  never  distinguished  itself,  he  is  known 
as  a  novus  homo  (new  man).  Detecting  unusual  talent  in  the 
boy,  his  father  resolved  to  develop  it  by  a  thorough  education, 
which  he  himself  superintended  at  Rome.  The  most  ac- 
complished teachers  were  secured,  the  Greek  poet  Ar'chias 
among  the  number,  and  the  youth  was  thoroughly  grounded 
in  grammar,  rhetoric,  and  Grecian  literature.  This  early 


training  Cicero  sedulously  supplemented  with  a  course  on 
Roman  law  under  Scaevola,  avoiding  the  whirl  of  dissipation 
that  surrounded  him,  and  even  relinquishing  social  pleasure 
for  the  labors  of  his  closet  or  to  study  in  the  forum  the  style 
of  the  first  public  speakers.  "Who  can  blame  me,"  he  asked 
in  his  oration  for  Archias,  "  if  while  others  are  gazing  at  festal 
shows  and  idle  ceremonies,  exploring  new  pleasures,  engaged 


MARCUS   TULLIUS    CICERO.  331 

in  midnight  revels,  in  the  distraction  of  gaming,  the  madness 
of  intemperance,  I  dedicate  my  time  to  learning  and  the 
Muses  ?" 

At  twenty-five  Cicero  made  his  debut ;  and  within  two 
years  he  rose  to  the  highest  rank  at  the  Roman  bar  by  ably 
pleading  the  cause  of  one  Roscius  against  a  friend  of  the 
terrible  Sulla.  Successful  in  this  case,  to  escape  the  ven- 
geance of  the  dictator  as  well  as  to  recruit  his  failing  health, 
Cicero  went  abroad.  At  Athens  he  pursued  the  study  of 
philosophy  with  Pompo'nius  Atticus,  the  companion  of  his 
boyhood  and  ever  after  his  warmest  friend.  In  the  schools 
of  Asia  Minor,  as  well  as  at  Rhodes,  then  a  great  literary 
centre,  he  studied  under  distinguished  teachers,  storing  his 
memory  with  valuable  knowledge  at  the  same  time  that  he 
made  himself  proficient  in  the  rhetorical  art.  The  death  of 
Sulla  having  removed  all  danger,  at  the  age  of  thirty  he  went 
back  to  Italy,  thoroughly  restored  by  his  travels,  and  fired 
with  the  noble  ambition  of  making  himself  the  Demosthenes 
of  Rome.  Step  by  step  he  approached  the  realization  of  his 
hopes,  and  when,  in  the  prosecution  of  Verres,  the  rapacious 
governor  of  Sicily,  he  triumphed  over  Hortensius,  who  con- 
ducted the  defence  (70  B.C.),  his  end  was  practically  achieved. 

Cicero  served  his  country  in  many  capacities,  but  in  none 
more  effectively  than  as  consul ;  since,  while  holding  this 
office  (63-62  B.C.),  he  saved  the  republic  from  a  dangerous 
conspiracy,  headed  by  the  profligate  Catiline.  The  consul's 
tact  and  courage  were  sorely  tried,  but  prevailed.  Four 
crushing  orations  laid  bare  the  plans  of  the  traitor  and  drove 
him  from  the  city,  to  fall  in  a  desperate  battle  with  the  Ro- 
man legions,  while  a  grateful  nation  greeted  the  vigilant  Cicero 
as  "the  Father  of  his  Country." 

But  the  Roman  people  were  fickle,  and  at  the  instigation 
of  an  enemy  banished  Cicero  from  the  city  he  had  saved, 
58  B.C.  The  next  year,  however,  the  decree  was  revoked, 

O  2 


332  ROMAN    LITERATURE. 

and  he  returned.  When  the  civil  war  between  Csesar  and 
Pompey  was  imminent,  Cicero's  indecision  told  powerfully 
against  him.*  At  last  he  joined  Pompey,  who,  provoked  at 
his  vacillation,  exclaimed :  "  I  wish  that  Cicero  would  go  over 
to  the  other  side ;  perhaps  he  would  then  be  afraid  of  us." 
The  battle  of  Pharsalia  (48  B.C.)  overthrew  the  hopes  of  the 
party  whose  cause  he  had  espoused,  and  Cicero,  returning  to 
Italy,  accepted  the  rule  and  friendship  of  Caesar,  and  settled 
down  to  a  literary  life. 

Shortly  after,  a  plot  is  laid  against  the  dictator ;  the  fatal 
Ides  (i5th)  of  March  (44  B.C.)  arrive;  the  assassins  do  their 
bloody  work  in  the  senate-house  ;  and  Brutus,  flourishing  his 
traitorous  dagger,  cries  to  Cicero  :  "  Rejoice,  O  Father  of  our 
Country,  for  Rome  is  free  !" 

But  it  was  grief,  not  joy,  that  the  dagger  of  Brutus  brought 
to  the  Republic ;  another  Pompey  and  another  Caesar  arose 
to  contend  for  the  mastery  of  the  world.  Marc  Antony  as- 
pired to  the  dead  dictator's  place ;  but  Cicero,  now  the  fore- 
most statesman  in  Rome,  regarding  him  as  the  enemy  of  lib- 
erty, upheld  the  cause  of  the  people  and  of  Octavius,  Caesar's 
young  nephew.  Into  the  struggle  that  ensued,  he  entered 
with  all  the  spirit  of  his  youth,  thundering  against  Antony  his 
grand  "  Philippics,"  in  the  second  of  which  are  concentrated 
all  his  powers  of  invective,  passion,  and  eloquence.  It  is 
Cicero's  mightiest  effort. 

FEOM  THE  SECOND  PHILIPPIC. 

"  When,  therefore,  this  fellow  (Antony)  had  begun  to  wallow  in  the 
treasures  of  that  great  man,  he  began  to  exult  like  a  buffoon  in  a 


*  A  Roman  knight,  Laberius,  who  had  lost  caste  by  appearing  on  the  stage, 
made  a  good  hit  at  Cicero,  for  his  political  non-committalism.  As  lie  was  going 
to  his  place  in  the  theatre  one  day,  Cicero,  who  was  seated  in  the  orchestra, 
called  out  to  him,  "  Laberius,  I  would  make  room  for  you,  if  we  were  not  so 
crowded  here."  —  "You  crowded!"  answered  Laberius.  "Why,  how  is  that? 
you  generally  manage  to  sit  on  two  stools." 


EXTRACT   FROM   CICERO'S    ORATIONS.  333 

play,  who  has  lately  been  a  beggar  and  has  become  suddenly  rich.* 
But,  as  some  poet  or  other  says, 

'  Ill-gotten  gains  come  quickly  to  an  end.' 

It  is  an  incredible  thing,  and  almost  a  miracle,  how  he  in  a  few,  not 
months,  but  days,  squandered  all  that  vast  wealth.  There  was  an 
immense  quantity  of  wine,  an  excessive  abundance  of  very  valuable 
plate,  much  precious  apparel,  great  quantities  of  splendid  furniture, 
and  other  magnificent  things  in  many  places,  such  as  one  was  likely 
to  see  belonging  to  a  man  who  was  not  indeed  luxurious,  but  who 
was  very  wealthy.  Of  all  this  in  a  few  days  there  was  nothing  left. 
What  Chary bdis  was  ever  so  voracious  ?  Charybdis,  do  I  say  f  Cha- 
ry bclis,  if  she  existed  at  all,  was  only  one  animal.  The  ocean,  I  swear 
most  solemnly,  appears  hardly  capable  of  having  swallowed  up  such 
numbers  of  things  so  widely  scattered,  and  distributed  in  such  differ- 
ent places,  with  such  rapidity. 

Nothing  was  shut  up,  nothing  sealed  up,  no  list  was  made  of  any- 
thing. Whole  storehouses  were  abandoned  to  the  most  worthless  of 
men.  Actors  seized  on  this,  actresses  on  that ;  the  house  was  crowd- 
ed with  gamblers,  and  full  of  drunken  men ;  people  were  drinking 
all  day,  and  that  too  in  many  places ;  there  were  added  to  all  this 
expense  (for  this  fellow  was  not  invariably  fortunate)  heavy  gam- 
bling losses.  You  might  see,  in  the  cellars  of  the  slaves,  conches  cov- 
ered with  the  most  richly  embroidered  counterpanes  of  Cneius  Pom- 
poy.  Wonder  not,  then,  that  all  these  things  were  so  soon  consumed. 
Such  profligacy  as  that  could  have  devoured,  not  only  the  patrimony 
of  one  individual,  however  ample  it  might  have  been,  but  whole  cities 
and  kingdoms. 

And  then  his  houses  and  gardens!  O  the  cruel  audacity!  Did 
you  dare  to  enter  into  that  house?  Did  you  dare  to  cross  that  most 
sacred  threshold  ?  and  to  show  your  most  profligate  countenance  to 
the  household  gods  who  protect  that  abode?  A  house  which  for  n 
long  time  no  one  could  behold,  no  one  could  pass  by,  without  tears! 
Are  you  not  ashamed  to  dwell  so  long  in  that  house — one  in  which, 
stupid  and  ignorant  as  you  are,  still  you  can  see  nothing  which  is  not 
painful  to  you  ? 

When  you  behold  those  beaks  of  ships  in  the  vestibule,  and  those 
warlike  trophies,  do  you  fancy  that  you  are  entering  into  a  house 
which  belongs  to  you?  It  is  impossible.  Although  you  are  devoid 
of  all  sense  and  all  feeling,  still  you  are  acquainted  with  yourself, 
and  with  your  trophies,  and  with  your  friends.  Nor  do  I  believe 
that  yon,  either  waking  or  sleeping-,  can  ever  act  with  quiet  sense. 

It  is  impossible  but  that,  were  you  ever  so  drunk  and  frantic,  as  in 


*  Allusion  is  here  made  to  Antony's  purchase  of  the  goods  of  Pompey  the 
Great,  at  auction,  after  the  defeat  of  the  latter  in  the  civil  war. 


334  ROMAN    LITERATURE. 

truth  you  are,  when  the  recollection  of  the  appearance  of  that  illus- 
trious man  comes  across  you,  you  should  be  roused  from  sleep  by  your 
fears,  and  often  stirred  up  to  madness  if  awake.  I  pity  even  the  walls 
and  the  roof." — YOXGE. 

The  patriot  paid  for  his  stanch  defence  of  freedom  with  his 
life.  Octavius  and  Antony,  becoming  reconciled,  formed  with 
Lepidus  the  Second  Triumvirate,  or  board  of  three,  to  govern 
the  Roman  world ;  and  Cicero  knew  that  the  sun  of  liberty 
had  set.  The  triumvirs  agreed  upon  a  general  proscription 
of  their  enemies.  A  reign  of  terror  deluged  Italy  with  blood, 
but  the  noblest  of  those  who  fell  was  Cicero. 

Antony  demanded  his  life,  and  Octavius  covered  himself 
with  infamy  by  yielding  it.  The  orator  met  his  fate  near  his 
villa  at  Formiae ;  timid  throughout  his  life,  in  the  last  scene  he 
exhibited  manly  fortitude.  He  is  said  to  have  been  calmly 
reading  the  "  Medea  "  of  Euripides  in  his  litter  when  Antony's 
myrmidons  overtook  him ;  a  desperado  who  owed  him  many 
favors,  while  even  his  brutal  companions  covered  their  eyes, 
struck  the  fatal  blow.  The  head  and  hands  of  the  murdered 
orator  were  cut  off  and  sent  to  Antony,  whose  inhuman  wife, 
as  she  fondled  the  ghastly  head  in  her  lap,  maliciously  thrust 
her  bodkin  into  the  tongue  that  had  denounced  her  husband. 
— True  as  it  was,  it  ill  became  the  time-serving  Octavius  to 
say,  when  afterward  wielding  the  sceptre  of  the  world  as  Au- 
gustus Cassar,  "  Cicero  was  a  good  citizen,  who  really  loved 
his  country." 

CICERO'S  WORKS. — Cicero  was  emphatically  a  many-sided 
man,  and  filled  a  wide  space  in  Roman  literature.  Though 
he  excelled  chiefly  in  oratory,  he  has  left  us,  besides  fifty-nine 
orations,  a  number  of  philospphical  treatises,  essays,  and  many 
letters  to  his  friend  Atticus,  his  brother,  and  other  correspond- 
ents. While  deeply  absorbed  in  public  duties,  he  found  op- 
portunities, without  neglecting  these,  to  pursue  the  study  of 
philosophy,  having  in  view  not  only  his  own  relaxation,  but 


CICEKO'S   PHILOSOPHICAL   WRITINGS,  335 

also  the  moral  advancement  of  his  countrymen.  His  works 
on  this  subject,  some  of  which,  for  the  sake  of  interest  and 
variety,  he  wrote  in  the  form  of  dialogues,  present  a  valuable 
survey  of  the  Greek  systems.  They  assert  his  belief  in  the 
existence  of  one  Supreme  Creator  and  the  immortality  of  the 
soul. 

Cicero's  chief  philosophical  writings  are  "the  Tusculan 
Disputations,"  imaginary  discussions  of  various  practical  ques- 
tions at  the  author's  Tusculan  villa, — the  scorn  of  death,  the 
endurance  of  suffering,  etc. ;  "  the  Offices,"  a  moral  essay ; 
treatises  "On  Friendship"  and  "On  Old  Age," justly  consid- 
ered as  among  the  most  charming  productions  of  their  class 
in  any  literature ;  political  dissertations  "  On  the  Republic  " 
and  "On  Laws  ;"  and  a  theological  disquisition  "On  the  Nat- 
ure of  the  Gods." 

THE   END  OF  LIFE. 

[From  Cicero's  Treatise  on  Old  Age.] 

"  An  old  man,  indeed,  has  nothing  to  hope  for ;  yet  he  is  in  so  much 
the  happier  state  than  a  young  one;  since  he  has  already  attained 
•what  the  other  is  only  lioping  for.  The  one  is  wishing  to  live  long, 
the  other  has  lived  long.  And  yet,  good  gods !  what  is  there  in  man's 
life  that  can  be  called  long?  To  my  mind,  nothing  whatever  seems 
of  long  duration,  in  which  there  is  any  end.  For  when  that  arrives, 
then  the  time  which  is  past  has  flowed  away  ;  that  only  remains 
which  you  have  secured  by  virtue  and  right  conduct.  Hours  indeed 
depart  from  us,  and  days,  and  months,  and  years  ;  nor  does  past  time 
ever  return,  nor  can  it  be  discovered  what  is  to  follow. 

Whatever  time  is  assigned  to  each  to  live,  with  that  he  ought  to  be 
content :  for  neither  need  the  drama  be  performed  entire  by  the  act- 
or, in  order  to  give  satisfaction,  provided  he  be  approved  in  whatever 
act  he  may  be ;  nor  need  the  wise  man  live  till  the  plaudit?.*  The 
short  period  of  life  is  long  enough  for  living  well  and  honorably ;  and 
if  you  should  advance  farther,  you  need  no  more  grieve  than  farmers 
do,  when  the  loveliness  of  spring-time  hath  passed,  that  summer  and 
autumn  have  come.  For  spring  represents  the  time  of  youth,  and 
gives  promise  of  the  future  fruits;  the  remaining  seasons  are  intend- 
ed for  plucking  and  gathering  those  fruits.  Now  the  harvest  of  old 
age,  as  I  have  often  said,  is  the  recollection  and  abundance  of  bless- 
ings previously  secured. 

*  The  last  word  of  the  play,  which  invites  the  applause  of  the  audience. 


336  ROMAN   LITERATURE. 

In  truth,  everything  that  happens  agreeably  to  nature  is  to  be 
reckoned  among  blessings.  What,  however,  is  so  agreeable  to  nature 
as  for  an  old  man  to  die  ?  which  even  is  the  lot  of  the  young,  though 
nature  opposes  and  resists.  And  thus  it  is  that  young  men  seem  to 
me  to  die,  just  as  when  the  violence  of  flame  is  extinguished  by  a 
flood  of  water ;  whereas  old  men  die,  as  the  exhausted  fire  goes  out, 
spontaneously,  without  the  exertion  of  any  force.  And  as  fruits 
when  they  are  green  are  plucked  by  force  from  the  trees,  but  when 
ripe  and  mellow  drop  oif,  so  violence  takes  away  their  lives  from 
youths,  maturity  from  old  men ;  a  state  which  to  me  indeed  is  so  de- 
lightful that,  the  nearer  I  approach  to  death,  I  seem  as  it  were  to  be 
getting  sight  of  land,  and  at  length,  after  a  long  voyage,  to  be  just 
coming  into  harbor." — EDMONDS. 

Cicero  also  wrote  a  treatise  "On  Glory,"  now  lost.  It  was 
once  in  the  possession  of  Petrarch,  who  commends  it  in  the 
most  flattering  terms.  The  Italian  poet  was  induced  to  lend 
it  to  his  aged  preceptor ;  but  the  latter,  driven  by  poverty,  se- 
cretly put  the  work  in  pawn  and  died  without  making  known 
its  whereabouts.  It  never  saw  the  light  afterward ;  although 
it  is  supposed  to  have  been  destroyed  two  centuries  later  by  a 
plagiarist,  who  had  helped  himself  to  some  of  its  fine  periods. 

As  a  letter-writer,  Cicero  excels  all  others.  It  was  the  cus- 
tom of  his  countrymen  to  bestow  as  great  pains  on  private 
correspondence  as  on  works  intended  for  publication  ;  and  his 
epistles,  eight  hundred  of  which  survive,  are  simple,  elegant, 
and  glow  with  wit,  though  some  of  them  were  written  so  fast 
as  to  be  almost  illegible.  They  cast  important  light  on  the 
history  of  his  day. 

Our  author  also  turned  his  hand  to  history  and  poetry,  but 
with  indifferent  success.  His  works  were  extremely  popular 
among  his  contemporaries,  some  of  them  selling  by  the  thou- 
sand. 

CICERO'S  STYLE. — Cicero  has  always  been  commended  for 
the  cadence  of  his  periods.  The  art  of  framing  harmonious 
balanced  sentences  was  his  special  study,  and  the  Latin  lan- 
guage, which  he  perfected  in  beauty  and  richness,  was  well 
adapted  to  his  purpose.  His  style  is  often  exuberant,  for  he 


CICEROS    STYLE.  337 

cultivated  the  flowers  of  rhetoric.  Character  he  sketched 
with  a  powerful  pen,  and  his  speeches  are  enlivened  with 
abundant  illustrations  drawn  from  the  wonderful  storehouse 
of  his  memory.  Too  often,  however,  vanity  crops  out,  to  mar 
the  effect. 

Quintilian  declared  that  as  an  orator  Cicero  combined  "  the 
force  of  Demosthenes,  the  copiousness  of  Plato,  and  the  ele- 
gance of  Isocrates."  Through  all  his  works  flows  a  current 
of  mingled  majesty  and  sweetness.  Merivale  aptly  styles  him 
"  the  most  consummate  specimen  of  the  Roman  character  un- 
der the  influence  of  Hellenic  culture." 

CICERO  ON  PROVIDENCE. 

[From  the  Treatise  on  the  Nature  of  the  Gods.] 

"  There  are  aud  have  been  philosophers  who  have  given  it  as  their 
opinion  that  the  gods  exercise  no  superintending  care  whatever  over 
human  affairs.  Now,  if  the  opinion  of  these  men  be  true,  what  be- 
comes of  piety?  what  of  public  worship?  what  of  religion  itself? 
For  all  these  marks  of  homage  are  to  be  rendered  in  a  pure  and  holy 
spirit  unto  the  majesty  of  the  gods,  only  in  case  they  are  observed  by 
these  same,  and  in  case  any  favor  has  been  bestowed  by  the  immortal 
gods  on  the  race  of  men.  If,  however,  the  gods  are  neither  able  nor 
willing  to  assist  us;  if  they  take  no  care  whatever  of  us;  if  they 
mark  not  what  we  do  ;  if  there  is  nothing  that  can  come  from  them 
and  exercise  an  influence  on  the  lives  of  men, — what  reason  is  there 
why  we  are  to  pay  any  adoration,  render  any  honors,  offer  any  pray- 
ers, to  the  immortal  gods? 

Piety,  jnst  as  much  as  the  other  virtues,  cannot  exist  in  outward 
show  and  empty  feignings;  while  along  with  piety,  both  public 
worship  and  religion  itself  must  of  necessity  be  done  away  with. 
Remove  these,  and  a  great  disturbance  aud  total  confusion  of  life 
ensue.  Nay,  indeed,  I  do  not  know  whether,  if  piety  toward  the 
gods  be  removed,  good  faith  also,  and  every  social  tie  that  binds  to- 
gether the  human  race,  and  justice  too,  that  most  excellent  of  all 
virtues,  would  not  be  removed  along  with  it." — CHARLES  ANTHON. 

Varro  (116-28  B.C.). — The  great  central  sun  of  the  Repub- 
lican Era  was  Cicero,  compared  with  whom  the  brightest  of 
his  contemporaries  seem  but  as  lesser  luminaries  whose  light 
is  swallowed  up  in  his.  Of  these,  Marcus  Terentius  Varro 


338  ROMAN   LITERATURE. 

was  perhaps  the  greatest.  Years  of  incessant  application, 
which  a  boyhood  passed  among  the  Sabine  mountains  at 
Reate  (re'd-te)  had  prepared  him  to  endure,  won  for  Varro 
the  proud  title  "  Most  Learned  of  the  Romans." 

During  the  civil  war,  Varro  sided  with  Pompey.  After  the 
triumph  of  Caesar,  he  retired  from  public  life  to  his  favorite 
studies,  the  victor  magnanimously  recognizing  his  merit  by 
placing  him  in  charge  of  the  public  library  at  Rome.  The 
material  results  of  his  literary  labors  enabled  him  to  live  like 
a  prince,  and  we  find  him  the  proprietor  of  three  sumptuous 
country-seats,  one  of  which  was  celebrated  for  its  costly  mar- 
ble aviary  of  three  thousand  song-birds — Varro's  pets. 

All  this  wealth  did  not  escape  the  notice  of  the  rapacious 
triumvirs  after  the  assassination  of  Caesar.  The  name  of 
Varro,  then  more  than  seventy,  was  placed  on  the  proscrip- 
tion list  j  his  property  was  confiscated  ;  and  Antony  sacked 
his  beautiful  villa  at  Casi'num,  committing  his  invaluable  li- 
brary to  the  flames.  The  old  man  owed  his  life  to  friends, 
who  concealed  him  from  his  implacable  foe  till  the  order  for 
his  murder  was  countermanded.  Augustus  afterward  re- 
stored his  fortune,  but  Varro  always  keenly  missed  the  so- 
ciety of  his  books.  At  the  advanced  age  of  eighty,  he  com- 
posed, in  dialogue  form,  an  admirable  work  "  On  Husbandry," 
written  in  a  brisk  and  entertaining  style. 

The  genius  of  Varro  was  remarkably  versatile  ;  as  over  six 
hundred  different  books  on  various  subjects,  in  both  prose 
and  verse,  abundantly  testify.  In  fertility  he  surpassed  all 
other  Romans ;  and  we  can  but  wonder,  with  St.  Augustine, 
how  he  found  time  to  write  so  much.  His  most  creditable 
work  was  his  "  Antiquities  Divine  and  Human,"  a  lost  treas- 
ure, of  which  the  present  age,  with  its  profound  interest  in  the 
religions  of  the  past,  severely  feels  the  want. 

Varro  also  prepared  a  treatise  "  On  the  Latin  Language," 
edited  a  popular  encyclopaedia  of  the  liberal  arts,  and  wrote 


JULIUS    CAESAR.  339 

on  history.  Throughout  his  works  he  appears  as  a  pure  pa- 
triot, a  defender  of  ancient  simplicity  and  virtue.  His  satires 
on  effeminacy  and  affectation  are  caustic ;  no  one  can  help 
enjoying  his  humorous  etchings  of  the  spruce  dandy,  the 
dainty  epicure,  and  the  finical  poet  who  gargles  his  throat 
before  reciting  his  pieces.  In  every  kind  of  writing  that 
he  attempted  (and  there  was  little  he  did  not  attempt)  he 
is  worthy  of  respect :  the  familiar  line  from  Dr.  Johnson's 
epitaph  on  our  own  Goldsmith,  would  apply  with  equal  force 
to  Varro — "  He  touched  nothing  that  he  did  not  adorn." 

Little  survives  of  Varro's  writings  beyond  the  treatise  on 
agriculture,  and  a  part  of  that  on  the  Latin  language. 

Julius  Caesar. — July  i2th,  100  B.C.,  was  the  birthday  of 
Caius  Julius  Cassar,  by  some  believed  to  be,  as  Shakespeare 
styled  him,  "  the  foremost  man  of  all  this  world."  The  pe- 
riod at  which  he  lived  was  a  critical  one  in  history.  Roman 
virtue  had  depreciated,  justice  was  bought  and  sold,  luxury 
had  sapped  the  vigor  of  the  nation,  and  vice  ran  riot.  Only 
one-man  power,  and  that  wielded  by  a  clear  head  and  power- 
ful arm,  could  save  the  state.  The  times  demanded  a  states- 
man who  would  not  shrink  from  taking  upon  himself  all  need- 
ful responsibilities ;  and  in  Julius  Cffisar  that  statesman  was 
forthcoming. 

Caesar's  whole  career  evinces  ambition,  courage,  and  deter- 
mination. Sulla  himself  he  feared  not  to  defy,  when  ordered 
to  divorce  his  wife  for  political  reasons ;  and  he  was  adroit 
enough  to  escape  the  vengeance  of  the  ruthless  dictator  who 
saw  in  "  the  loose-girt  boy  "  many  Mariuses.  Leaving  Rome 
for  the  East,  he  acquitted  himself  with  signal  ability,  though 
only  twenty-two,  in  a  campaign  against  Mytilene  ;  and  when 
captured  by  pirates  on  the  high  seas,  he  paid  them  an  ex- 
tortionate ransom,  but  promptly  turned  the  tables  on  them  by 
overhauling  their  vessel  with  a  small  fleet,  and  nailing  them 
to  crosses  on  the  coast  of  Asia  Minor. 


340  ROMAN   LITERATURE. 

At  Rhodes  he  studied  oratory  and  rhetoric.  On  his  return 
to  Rome  he  gave  evidence  of  his  powers  in  the  forum,  and 
was  hailed  as  second  in  eloquence  to  Cicero  only.  His  readi- 
ness to  protect  the  poor  and  the  oppressed,  together  with  his 
insinuating  manners,  made  Cassar  the  idol  of  the  people,  who 
bestowed  upon  him  various  offices  and  finally  raised  him  to 
the  consulship.  At  the  expiration  of  his  term,  he  was  intrust- 
ed with  the  government  of  the  two  Gauls ;  and  the  military 
skill  he  displayed  in  this  position,  during  nine  years  of  active 
service  (58-50  B.C.),  proved  him  to  be  one  of  the  world's 
great  captains.  Overpowering  many  fierce  tribes,  he  carried 
the  terror  of  the  Roman  eagles  into  the  forests  of  Germany 
and  even  across  the  Channel.  A  million  human  beings  are 
computed  to  have  been  sacrificed  in  his  Gallic  campaigns. 

Jealous  of  these  brilliant  successes,  and  recognizing  in 
Caesar  a  dangerous  opponent  of  his  schemes  for  political  ag- 
grandizement, Pompey  prevailed  on  the  senate  to  demand  the 
resignation  of  his  victorious  rival.  This  brought  matters  to  a 
crisis.  Caesar  with  his  legions  crossed  the  Rubicon,  which 
separated  Cisalpine  Gaul  from  Italy  (49  B.C.),  and  was  soon 
in  Rome,  whence  Pompey  and  his  friends  had  fled.  The  bat- 
tle of  Pharsalia  the  next  year  decided  the  question  in  favor  of 
Caesar;  Pompey's  party  was  overthrown  in  Africa  and  Spain, 
and  the  Roman  world  remained  the  prize  of  the  conqueror. 

Not  long,  however,  did  he  enjoy  it.  Fearing  his  ambition, 
or  pretending  to  do  so,  a  number  of  "  liberators  "  conspired 
against  his  life.  On  the  i5th  of  March,  44  B.C.,  he  fell  pierced 
by  their  daggers  at  the  foot  of  Pompey's  statue,  as  that  last 
cry,  wrung  from  his  heart  by  the  ingratitude  of  a  trusted 
friend,  resounded  through  the  senate -house, — "Thou,  too, 
Brutus,  my  son  !" 

We  can  hardly  see  how,  amid  the  excitements  of  such  a 
career,  Caesar  found  any  time  to  devote  to  literary  pursuits; 
yet  his  name  is  hardly  less  eminent  in  letters  than  for  states- 


CAESAR'S  WRITINGS.  341 

manship  and  military  genius.  He  seems  to  have  had  the 
rare  ability  of  "  employing  at  the  same  time  his  ears  to  listen, 
his  eyes  to  read,  his  hand  to  write,  and  his  voice  to  dictate." 
While  crossing  the  Alps,  on  one  occasion,  he  wrote  a  gram- 
matical treatise  of  no  little  merit. 

The  greatest  of  Caesar's  works  are  his  "Commentaries"  on 
the  Gallic  and  the  Civil  War — the  former  in  seven  books, 
to  which  an  eighth  was  added  at  the  author's  request  by 
his  fellow-soldier  HIRTIUS.  In  "  the  Gallic  War,"  Caesar  not 
only  recounts  his  successes  and  feats  of  engineering  skill,  but 
also  entertains  us  with  pleasing  descriptions  of  the  countries 
he  visited  and  the  tribes  he  encountered.  He  always  aims 
at  justifying  himself,  and  so  plausibly  defended  his  course 
in  "the  Civil  War"  as  to  carry  conviction  even  to  the  preju- 
diced. 

In  Caesar's  style,  conciseness  goes  hand  in  hand  with  sim- 
plicity and  perspicuity.  Dispensing  with  ornament,  he  uses 
every  word  to  the  best  advantage — and  this  despite  the  fact 
that  he  wrote  with  amazing  rapidity.  Though,  perhaps,  he 
lacks  vivacity  and  energy,  there  is  no  purer  Latin  than  his. 
We  subjoin  some  interesting  paragraphs  from  the  Commen- 
taries on  the  Gallic  War,  relating  to  the  customs  of 

THE  ANCIENT  GAULS  AND  GERMANS. 

"The  whole  nation  of  Gauls  is  extremely  addicted  to  supersti- 
tion; whence,  in  threatening  distempers  and  the  imminent  dangers 
of  war,  they  make  no  scruple  to  sacrifice  men,  or  engage  themselves 
by  vow  to  such  sacrifices.  In  these  they  make  use  of  the  ministry  of 
the  Druids:  for  it  is  a  prevalent  opinion  among  them  that  nothing 
but  the  life  of  man  can  atone  for  the  life  of  man,  insomuch  that  they 
have  established  even  public  sacrifices  of  this  kind.  Some  prepare 
liii^e  colossuses  of  osier  twigs,  into  which  they  put  men  alive,  and 
setting  tire  to  them,  those  within  expire  amid  the  flames.  They 
prefer  for  victims  such  as  have  been  convicted  of  theft,  robbery,  or 
other  crimes,  believing  them  the  most  acceptable  to  the  gods;  but, 
when  criminals  are  wanting,  the  innocent  are  often  made  to  suffer. 

Mercury  is  the  chief  deity  with  them  ;  of  him  they  have  many  im- 
ages, account  him  the  inventor  of  all  arts,  their  guide  and  conductor 


342  ROMAN   LITERATURE. 

in  their  journeys,  and  the  patron  of  merchandise  and  ga'.:i.  Next  to 
him  are  Apollo  and  Mars,  Jnpiter  and  Minerva.  Their  notions  in 
regard  to  these  are  t>retty  much  the  same  as  those  of  other  nations. 
Apollo  is  their  god  or  physic,  Minerva  of  works  and  manufactures  ; 
Jove  holds  the  empire  of  heaven,  and  Mars  presides  in  war.  To  this 
last,  when  they  resolve  on  a  battle,  they  commonly  devote  the  spoil. 
If  they  prove  victorious,  they  offer  up  all  the  cattle  taken,  and  set 
apart  the  rest  of  the  plunder  in  a  place  appointed  for  that  purpose ; 
it  is  common  in  many  provinces  to  see  these  monuments  of  offerings 
piled  up  in  consecrated  places.  Nay,  it  rarely  happens  that  any  one 
shows  so  great  a  disregard  of  religion  as  either  to  conceal  the  plunder 
or  pillage  ths  public  oblations;  ami  the  severest  punishments  are 
inflicted  on  such  offenders.  . 

The  Gauls  fancy  themselves  to  be  descended  from  the  god  Pluto  ; 
which,  it  seems,  is  an  established  tradition  among  the  Druids.  For 
this  reason  they  compute  the  time  by  nights,  not  by  days;  and,  in 
the  observance  of  birthdays,  new  moons,  and  the  beginning  of  the 
year,  always  commence  the  celebration  from  the  preceding  night. 
In  one  custom  they  differ  from  almost  all  other  nations,  that  they 
never  suffer  their  children  to  come  openly  into  their  presence  until 
they  are  old  enough  to  bear  arms;  for  the  appearance  of  a  son  in 
public  with  his  father  before  he  has  reached  the  age  of  manhood  is 
accounted  dishonorable. 

Whatever  fortune  the  woman  brings,  the  husband  is  obliged  to 
equal  it  out  of  his  own  estate.  This  whole  sum,  with  its  annual 
product,  is  left  untouched,  and  falls  always  to  the  share  of  the  sur- 
vivor. The  men  have  power  of  life  and  death  over  their  wives  and 
children;  and,  when  any  father  of  a  family  of  illustrious  rank  dies, 
his  relations  assemble,  and,  on  the  least  ground  of  suspicion,  put  even 
his  wives  to  the  torture  like  slaves.  If  they  are  found  guilty,  iron 
and  fire  are  employed  to  torment  and  destroy  them.  Their  funerals 
are  magnificent  and  sumptuous,  according  to  their  quality.  Every- 
thing that  was  dear  to  the  deceased,  even  animals,  are  thrown  into 
the  pile ;  and,  formerly,  such  of  their  slaves  and  clients  as  they 
loved  most  sacrificed  themselves  at  the  funeral  of  their  lord. 

The  Germans  differ  widely  in  their  manners  from  the  Gauls ;  for 
neither  have  they  Druids  to  preside  in  religious  affairs,  nor  do  they 
trouble  themselves  about  sacrifices.  They  acknowledge  no  gods  but 
those  that  they  can  see,  and  by  whose  power  they  are  apparently 
benefited :  the  sun,  the  moon,  fire.  Of  others  they  know  nothing, 
not  even  by  report.  Their  whole  life  is  addicted  to  hunting  and 
war;  and  from  their  infancy  they  are  inured  to  fatigue  and  hard- 
ships. Agriculture  is  little  regarded  among  them,  as  they  live  most- 
ly on  milk,  cheese,  and  the  flesh  of  animals.  Nor  has  any  man  lands 
of  his  own,  or  distinguished  by  fixed  boundaries.  The  magistrates 
and  those  in  authority  portion  out  yearly  to  every  canton  and  family 
such  a  quantity  of  laud,  and  in  what  part  of  the  country  they  think 
proper;  and  the  year  following  remove  them  to  some  other  spot. 


SALLUST,  THE    IIISTOIUAN.  343 

Many  reasons  are  assigned  for  this  practice  ;  lest,  seduced  by  habit 
and  continuance,  they  should  learn  to  prefer  pillage  to  war ;  lest  a 
desire  of  enlarging  their  possessions  should  gain  ground,  and  prompt 
the  stronger  to  expel  the  weaker;  lest  they  should  become  curious 
in  their  buildings,  in  order  to  guard  against  the  extremes  of  heat 
and  cold;  lest  avarice  should  get  footing  among  them,  whence 
spring  factious  and  discords;  in  tine,  to  preserve  contentment  and 
equanimity  among  the  people,  when  they  liud  their  possessions  noth- 
ing inferior  to  those  of  the  most  powerful. 

It  is  accounted  honorable  for  states  to  have  the  country  all  around 
them  lie  waste  and  depopulated;  for  they  think  it  an  argument  of 
valor  to  expel  their  neighbors,  and  suffer  none  to  settle  near  them  ; 
at  the  same  time  that  they  are  themselves  also  the  safer,  as  having 
nothing  to  apprehend  from  sudden  incursions.  When  a  state-is  en- 
gaged in  war,  either  offensive  or  defensive,  they  make  choice  of  mag- 
istrates to  preside  in  it,  whom  they  arm  with  the  power  of  life  and 
death.  In  time  of  peace  there  are  no  public  magistrates;  but  the 
chiefs  of  the  several  provinces  and  clans  administer  justice,  and  de- 
cide differences  within  their  respective  limits.  Robbery  has  nothing 
infamous  in  it  when  committed  without  the  territories  of  the  state 
to  which  they  belong  ;  they  even  pretend  that  it  serves  to  exercise 
their  youth,  and  prevent  the  growth  of  sloth.  The  laws  of  hospital- 
ity are  held  inviolable  among  them.  All  that  fly  to  them  for  refuge, 
on  whatever  account,  are  sure  of  protection  and  defence." — DUNCAN. 

Sallust  (86-34  B.C.). — Another  historian,  whose  name  is 
as  familiar  as  Caesar's  to  classical  students,  is  Caius  Sallustius 
Crispus,  popularly  known  as  Sallust.  From  his  native  town 
Amiternum,  in  the  country  of  the  Sabines,  he  came  to  Rome, 
ambitious  of  public  honors,  and  gradually  worked  his  way  up 
to  a  seat  in  the  senate.  Alleged  immorality,  however,  caused 
his  expulsion  from  that  body,  and  not  until  he  had  rendered 
important  service  to  Caesar  in  the  civil  war  did  he  recover  his 
good  standing.  Caesar  made  him  governor  of  the  rich  prov- 
ince of  Numidia  (46  B.C.),  which  Sallust  pretty  thoroughly 
plundered  during  his  one  year  of  office,  returning  to  Rome 
with  fabulous  riches.  It  was  fortunate  for  him  that,  when  a 
Numiclian  commission  arrived  to  prosecute  him  for  extortion, 
his  powerful  patron  interposed  to  save  him  from  punishment. 

On  the  assassination  of  Caesar,  Sallust  retired  from  public 
life  and  devoted  part  of  his  ill-gotten  gains  to  the  erection  of 


344  KOMAN   LITEKATUEE. 

a  splendid  mansion  on  one  of  the  seven  hills.  It  was  sur- 
rounded by  lovely  pleasure-grounds,  adorned  with  baths,  stat- 
ues, and  other  magnificent  works  of  art,  prominent  among 
which,  on  exquisitely  chiselled  columns,  rose  a  temple,  paved 
in  mosaic,  and  set  off  with  Grecian  marbles.  "  The  Gardens 
of  Sallust  "  were  preferred  by  many  of  the  Roman  emperors 
to  the  imperial  palace  itself. 

Here  or  at  his  Tiburtine  villa,  our  author,  thoroughly  con- 
vinced of  the  vanity  of  political  honors,  and  filled  with  re- 
morse for  his  youthful  indiscretions,  spent  the  last  nine  years 
of  his  life  in  the  compilation  of  historical  works  which  give  us 
a  high  opinion  of  his  abilities.  His  first  effort  was  "the  Con- 
spiracy of  Catiline,"  the  facts  of  which  were  vividly  impressed 
upon'  his  memory,  since,  when  a  student  at  Rome,  he  was  a 
witness  of  its  thrilling  scenes.  "The  Jugurthine  War,"  which 
followed,  treats  of  the  struggle  which  the  Roman  people  car- 
ried on  with  Jugurtha,  king  of  Numidia.  This  unscrupulous 
prince  had  made  his  way  to  an  undivided  throne  over  the 
murdered  bodies  of  his  two  cousins,  allies  of  the  Romans,  se- 
curing impunity  for  a  time  by  buying  up  the  senate.  Having, 
however,  caused  the  assassination  of  another  kinsman  in  the 
very  streets  of  Rome,  whither  he  had  been  summoned,  on  the 
pledge  of  the  public  faith,  to  expose  those  who  had  taken  his 
bribes,  he  was  ordered  to  quit  Italy.  It  was  on  leaving  the 
capital  that  Jugurtha,  looking  back,  uttered  those  words  so 
significant  of  the  prevalent  corruption  :  "  O  venal  city  and 
destined  soon  to  perish,  if  you  can  but  find  a  purchaser !" 

A  Roman  army  followed  him  into  Africa;  but  little  was 
effected  until  the  consul  Metellus  assumed  the  command,  and, 
proof  against  Numidian  gold,  prosecuted  the  war  in  earnest. 
After  five  years'  continuance,  it  was  successfully  terminated 
by  Marius.  Sallust's  history  ends  with  the  betrayal  of  Jugur- 
tha to  the  Romans,  and  the  triumph  of  the  consul  Marius, 
"on  whom  the  hopes  of  the  state  were  then  placed."  Plutarch 


SALLUST'S  STYLE.  345 

adds  that,  after  figuring  in  the  procession,  Jugurtha  was  set 
upon  by  the  people,  who  tore  the  rings  from  his  ears  and  even 
stripped  him  of  his  clothes ;  then  he  was  pushed  into  a  damp 
dungeon  to  starve,  shuddering  as  he  cried  to  the  bystanders 
with  a  maniacal  laugh,  "  Plow  cold  is  this  bath  of  yours  !" 

Another  work  of  Sallust  was  a  History  of  Rome  from  78  to 
66  B.C.,  fragments  of  which  remain. 

SALLUST'S  STYLE,  modelled  after  that  of  Thucydides,  is  sen- 
tentious, energetic,  and  an  improvement  on  the  original  in 
clearness.  Condensation  without  obscurity  is  its  crowning 
excellence ;  and  its  finish,  though  too  plainly  showing  marks 
of  labor,  is  always  attractive. 

The  forte  of  Sallust  lay  in  delineating  character ;  his  por- 
traits of  Catiline  and  Jugurtha  are  as  vivid  as  if  the  men 
themselves  stood  before  us.  Especially  striking  are  his  pict- 
ures of  remorse.  Catiline,  who  murdered  his  own  son  to  in- 
duce an  infamous  beauty  to  become  his  wife,  "at  peace  with 
neither  gods  nor  men,  finds  no  comfort  either  waking  or  sleep- 
ing ;  his  complexion  is  pale,  his  eyes  haggard,  his  walk  some- 
times quick  and  sometimes  slow,  and  distraction  is  apparent 
in  every  look."  Jugurtha,  red  with  the  blood  of  many  vic- 
tims, "  fears  his  subjects  and  his  enemies  alike,  is  ever  on  the 
watch,  starts  from  his  sleep  to  seize  his  arms,  and  is  so  agi- 
tated by  terror  as  to  appear  under  the  influence  of  madness." 

Sallust  also  affects  the  moralist,  and  throughout  his  works 
is  as  loud  in  the  praises  of  virtue  as  in  his  life  he  was  care- 
less of  her  interests.  From  "  the  Jugurthine  War  "  we  take 
an  interesting  account  of  the 

CAPTUEE  OF  A  NUMIDIAN  FOET. 

"  Not  far  from  the  river  Mulucha,  which  separated  the  kingdoms 
of  Jugurtha  and  Bocchus,  there  stood,  in  the  midst  of  a  plain,  a 
small  fort,  on  a  rock  of  considerable  breadth,  and  of  prodigious 
height,  naturally  as  steep  on  every  side  as  art  or  labor  could  render 
it ;  it  had  no  access,  except  at  one  place,  and  that  was  by  means  of 
a  narrow  path.  As  the  king's  treasure  was  deposited  in  this  place, 


346  ROMAN    L1TERATUEK. 

Mavius  exerted  his  utmost  efforts  to  reduce  it ;  and  succeeded,  more 
by  accident  than  by  prudent  management. 

The  castle  was  abundantly  provided  with  men,  arms,  provisions, 
and  a  spring  of  water;  its  situation  rendered  it  impossible  to  make 
use  of  mounds  and  turrets,  and  the  machinery  usually  employed  in 
a  siege ;  the  path  to  it  was  very  narrow,  with  a  precipice  on  each 
side.  The  moving  galleries  were  pushed  forward  with  infinite  haz- 
ard, and  to  no  purpose;  for,  when  they  advanced  toward  the  gar- 
rison, they  were  either  destroyed  by  fire  or  crushed  by  prodigious 
stones.  The  soldiers  could  neither  maintain  their  footing  nor  inake 
use  of  their  batteries  without  exposing  themselves  to  continual  dan- 
ger. The  most  adventurous  were  either  slain  or  wounded,  and  the 
rest  were  greatly  discouraged. 

Marius,  having  thus  spent  many  toilsome  days,  now  hesitated 
whether  he  should  abandon  his  enterprise,  which  had  proved  unsuc- 
cessful, or  wait  the  interposition  of  fortune,  which  had  so  frequently 
befriended  him.  While  these  reflections  day  and  night  occupied  his 
mind,  a  Ligurian,  a  common  soldier  of  the  auxiliary  cohorts,  who 
had  gone  out  of  the  camp  in  search  of  water,  happened  to  observe, 
liot  far  from  the  opposite  side  of  the  castle,  some  periwinkles  creep- 
ing among  the  rocks  ;  gathering  one,  then  another,  and  still  climb- 
ing to  procure  more,  he  was  led  insensibly  almost  to  the  top  of 
the  mountain,  where,  perceiving  all  was  quiet  in  that  quarter,  the 
natural  desire  of  viewing  unknown  objects  prompted  him  to  pro- 
ceed. 

It  chanced  that  an  oak-tree,  of  considerable  magnitude,  here  grew 
out  of  the  side  of  the  rock,  and,  bending  its  trunk  downward  near 
the  root,  then  taking  a  turn,  mounted  upward,  as  is  natural  to  trees 
in  such  situations. 

By  the  help  of  this,  the  Ligurian,  laying  hold  of  the  branches  of 
the  tree  or  of  the  prominences  of  the  rock,  was  at  length  enabled  to 
survey  the  whole  plan  of  the  castle,  without  being  disturbed  by  the 
Numidians,  who  were  all  engaged  on  that  side  on  which  the  attack 
had  been  made.  Having  carefully  examined  whatever  he  thought 
would  be  useful  to  him  in  the  execution  of  his  design,  he  returned 
the  same  way;  not  hastily,  as  he  went  up,  but  pausing  at  every 
step,  and  observing  everything  with  the  utmost  care. 

On  his  return  to  the  camp,  he  hastened  to  Marius,  informed  him 
of  what  he  had  done,  pressed  him  to  make  an  attempt  on  the  castle 
on  that  side  where  he  himself  had  mounted,  and  promised  that  he 
would  lead  the  way,  and  be  the  first  to  face  the  danger.  Marius  de- 
spatched some  of  those  who  attended  him,  accompanied  by  the  Li- 
gurian, to  examine  the  spot ;  and,  although  their  reports  varied  as 
to  the  facility  or  the  difficulty  of  the  undertaking,  the  consul,  en- 
couraged by  the  hope  of  success,  determined  to  make  the  attempt. 
He  accordingly  selected,  from  among  the  trumpeters  and  cornet- 
blowers  of  the  line,  five  of  the  most  active  and  enterprising  men.  to- 
gether with  four  centurions  to  support  them,  and,  putting  the  whole 


EXTRACT   FROM   SALLUST.  347 

under  the  command  of  the  Ligurian,  he  ordered  them  to  be  in  readi- 
ness to  set  out  on  the  following  day. 

At  the  time  appointed  the  party  left  the  camp,  having  previously 
taken  such  measures  as  were  necessary  for  the  expedition.  The  cen- 
turions, according  to  the  instructions  which  they  had  received  from 
their  guide,  had  changed  their  arms  and  dress,  and  marched  with 
their  heads  and  feet  bare,  that  they  might  have  the  freer  prospect, 
and  climb  with  more  facility.  Their  swords  and  bucklers  were  slung 
across  their  shoulders ;  the  latter,  of  the  Numidian  kind,  and  covered 
with  hides,  as  well  for  the  sake  of  lightness,  as  that  all  noise  might 
be  avoided  if  they  struck  against  the  rock. 

The  Ligurian,  leading  the  way,  fixed  cords  about  the  stones,  and 
such  roots  of  trees  as  appeared  proper  for  the  purpose,  to  assist  the 
soldiers  in  climbing ;  stretching  his  hand,  from  time  to  time,  to  such 
as  were  discouraged  at  so  rugged  a  march.  When  the  ascent  was 
more  steep  than  ordinary,  he  would  send  them  up  before  him  un- 
armed, and  then  follow  himself  with  their  arms.  Wherever  it  ap- 
peared more  dangerous  to  climb,  he  went  foremost ;  and,  by  ascend- 
ing and  descending  several  times,  encouraged  the  rest  to  follow  him, 
and  retired  to  make  way  for  them.  At  length,  after  much  tedious 
labor,  they  gained  the  castle,  which  was  quite  deserted  on  that  side, 
the  Numidians  being  all  employed  in  the  opposite  quarter. 

When  Marius  was  informed  of  the  success  of  the  Ligurian,  al- 
though he  had  kept  the  garrison  employed  the  whole  day  by  a  con- 
tinued attack,  he  now,  encouraging  the  soldiers,  sallied  from  under 
the  moving  galleries,  and,  drawing  up  his  men  in  the  form  of  a 
shell,  rushed  forward  to  the  castle ;  while  the  slingers  and  archers 
poured  their  volleys  from  a  distance,  and  the  engines  incessantly 
played  on  the  besieged.  The  Numidians,  who  had  often  before 
broken  to  pieces  and  even  burned  the  Roman  galleries,  did  not  now 
defend  themselves  within  their  battlements,  but  passed  whole  days 
and  nights  without  their  walls ;  they  railed  at  the  efforts  of  the  Ro- 
mans, upbraided  Marius  with  madness,  and  in  the  height  of  their  ex- 
ultation threatened  to  make  our  men  slaves  of  Jugurtha. 

While  both  sides  were  warmly  engaged  in  this  vigorous  struggle 
for  glory  and  empire  on  the  one  hand,  and  life  and  liberty  on  the 
other,  the  trumpets  on  a  sudden  sounded  in  the  enemy's  rear.  The 
women  and  children,  who  had  come  out  to  see  the  engagement,  first 
fled  in  dismay  ;  after  them,  such  as  were  nearest  the  walls ;  and  at 
last  the  whole,  armed  and  unarmed,  fairly  gave  way.  The  Romans 
now  pressed  onward  with  greater  vigor,  overthrowing  the  enemy,  and 
wounding  most  of  them ;  then,  advancing  over  the  heaps  of  slain, 
they  flew  to  the  walls,  all  thirsting  for  glory,  and  each  striving  to  be 
foremost,  without  regard  to  plunder.  Thus  did  accidental  success 
justify  the  rashness  of  Marius,  while  his  imprudence  contributed  to 
heighten  his  glory." 

Cornelius  Nepos  (74-24  B.d),  though  inferior  to  the  writers 

P 


348  ROMAN   LITERATURE. 

just  treated,  deserves  mention  for  his  "Lives  of  Eminent 
Commanders,"  his  only  extant  work.  These  sketches,  espe- 
cially the  biography  of  Pomponius  Atticus,  are  clearly  writ- 
ten and  furnish  valuable  information  respecting  the  times  to 
which  they  relate ;  but  Nepos  was  not  an  accurate  compiler, 
and  dependence  cannot  always  be  placed  on  his  statements. 
As  a  specimen  of  his  style,  we  quote  from  his  "Lives  " 

THE  CHARACTER  OF  ALCIBIADES. 

"  Nature  seems  to  have  tried  in  him  what  she  could  do.  For  it  ie 
agreed  upon  among  all  who  have  written  about  him,  that  nobody 
was  more  extraordinary  than  he,  either  in  vices  or  in  virtues ;  being 
born  in  a  very  great  city,  of  a  great  family,  much  the  handsomest 
man  of  his  time,  fit  for  all  things,  and  abounding  in  judgment  for 
the  management  of  affairs.  For  he  was  a  very  great  commander, 
both  by  sea  and  laud ;  so  eloquent  that  he  mightily  prevailed  in 
speaking;  and  such  was  the  plausibility  of  his  elocution  and  lan- 
guage that  in  haranguing  nobody  was  able  to  stand  before  him. 

The  same  man,  when  occasion  required,  was  laborious,  hardy,  gen- 
erous, splendid  no  less  in  his  equipage  than  his  diet,  affable,  fawn- 
ing, very  cunningly  serving  the  times.  The  same,  when  he  had  un- 
bent himself,  and  there  was  no  reason  why  he  should  take  upon  him 
any  labor  of  thought,  was  found  to  be  luxurious,  dissolute,  and  in- 
temperate, in  so  much  that  all  wondered  that  in  the  same  man  there 
should  be  so  much  unlikeuess  to  himself,  and  natures  so  different." 
— JOHN  CLARKE. 

POETS  OP  THE  CICERONIAN  PERIOD. 

Lucretius  (95-55  B.C.). — Meanwhile  Italy  produced  two 
poets  of  high  rank,  Lucretius  and  Catullus.  Of  Lucretius  we 
have  little  trustworthy  information.  A  native  of  Italy,  he  ap- 
pears, in  accordance  with  the  common  practice,  to  have  stud- 
ied philosophy  at  Athens,  where  he  became  the  classmate  of 
Memmius.  From  his  poetry,  we  may  infer  his  indifference  to 
all  things  transient,  alike  to  social  pleasures  and  the  stormy 
sea  of  politics  that  surged  around  him  ;  his  life  was  probably 
one  of  deep  thought,  tinged  with  sadness.  In  dignity  he  was 
a  true  Roman ;  in  sympathy  for  his  kind,  a  true  man.  With 
nature  he  must  have  held  frequent  converse,  for  Homer  alone 


LUCKETIUS.  349 

of  ancient  writers  excels  him  in  description.     His  life  ended 
with  suicide. 

The  only  work  of  Lucretius  was  what  Macaulay  styles  "  the 
finest  didactic  poem  in  any  language,"  "On  the  Nature  of 
Things."  It  was  dedicated  to  his  school-friend  Memmius,  at 
whose  suggestion  it  is  said  to  have  been  written.  The  old 
story  that,  having  been  crazed  by  a  love-philter  administered 
through  the  jealousy  of  his  wife,  the  poet  composed  this  work 
during  the  temporary  returns  of  reason,  is  now  discredited  as 
a  fabrication  of  later  times. 

The  poem  is  divided  into  six  books,  and  embodies  the  dog- 
mas of  Epicurus,  which  Lucretius  vivified  with  the  spirit  of 
poetry  and  beautified  with  its  most  attractive  drapery.  Pleas- 
ure, the  chief  end  of  existence,  is  to  be  sought  by  banishing 
care  and  distressing  thoughts.  God  created  not ;  but  eternal 
atoms,  variously  and  ceaselessly  active,  constitute  all  existing 
things.  The  soul  is  material,  and  dies  with  the  body ;  it  be- 
hooves us,  therefore,  to  make  the  most  of  the  little  time  allot- 
ted us  out  of  eternity,  by  dividing  it  between  moderate  enjoy- 
ment and  philosophical  contemplation. 

Lucretius  also  accounted  for  the  origin  of  the  universe, 
whose  government  by  a  Divine  Being  he  scouted ;  for  that  of 
plants,  men,  and  animals,  teaching  the  survival  of  the  fittest; 
for  that  of  language  and  the  arts.  To  elevate  his  readers 
above  degrading  superstitions  and  the  cowardly  fear  of  death 
is  his  primary  aim ;  and  "  the  constant  presence  of  this  prac- 
tical purpose  imparts  to  his  words  that  peculiar  tone  of  im- 
passioned earnestness  to  which  there  is  no  parallel  in  ancient 
literature."  In  one  of  many  passages  on  the  subject,  he  thus 
speaks  of 

THE   DREAD   OF  DEATH. 

"  Were  then  the  Nature  of  Created  Things 
To  rise  abrupt,  and  thus  repining  mau 
Address  : — '  O  mortal !  whence  these  useless  fears  ? 
This  weak,  superfluous  sorrow  ?  why  the  approach 


350  KOMAN    LITEKATUKE. 

Dread'st  tlioii  of  death  ?     For  if  the  time  elapsed 
Have  smiled  propitious,  and  uot  all  its  gifts, 
As  if  adveutured  in  a  leaky  vase, 
Beeu  idly  wasted,  profitless,  and  vain — 
Why  quitt'st  thou  not,  thou  fool!  the  feast  of  life 
Filled,  an  1  with  mind  all  panting  for  repose  ? 
But  if  thyself  have  squandered  every  boon, 
And  of  the  past  grown  weary — why  demand 
More  days  to  kill,  more  blessings  to  pervert, 
Nor  rather  headlong  hasten  to  thine  end  ?' 
Were  Nature  thus  to  address  us,  could  we  fail 
To  feel  the  justice  of  her  keen  rebuke  ? 
So  true  the  picture,  the  advice  so  sage ! 

But  to  the  wretch  who  moans  the  approach  of  death 
With  grief  unmeasured,  louder  might  she  raise 
Her  voice  severe  : — '  Vile  coward !  dry  thine  eyes — 
Hence  with  thy  snivelling  sorrows,  and  depart!' 
Should  he,  moreo'er,  have  passed  man's  mid-day  hour — 
'  What!  thou  lament,  already  who  hast  reaped 
An  ample  harvest  ?     By  desiring  thus 
The  past  once  more,  the  present  thon  abhorr'st, 
And  life  flies  on  imperfect,  uuenjoyed, 
And  death  untimely  meets  thee,  ere  thy  soul, 
Cloyed  with  the  banquet,  is  prepared  to  rise. 
Leave,  then,  to  others  bliss  thy  years  should  slum  ; 
Come,  cheerful  leave  it,  since  still  leave  thon  must.' 
Justly,  I  deem,  might  Nature  thus  reprove : 
For,  through  creation,  old  to  young  resigns, 
And  this  from  that  matures;  nor  aught  descends 
To  the  dread  gnlfs,  the  fancied  shades  of  hell. 
The  mass  material  must  survive  entire 
To  feed  succeeding  ages,  which,  in  turn, 
Like  theo  shall  flourish,  and  like  thee  shall  die  ; 
Nor  more  the  present  ruins  than  the  past. 
Thus  things  from  things  ascend;  and  life  exists 
To  none  a.freehold,  but  a  use  to  all. 

Reflect,  moreo'er,  how  less  than  naught  to  us 
Weighs  the  long  portion  of  eternal  time 
Fled  ere  our  birth :  so,  too,  the  future  weighs 
When  death  dissolves  us.     What  of  horror,  then, 
Dwells  there  in  death  ?  what  gloomy,  what  austere  ? 
Can  there  be  elsewhere  slumber  half  so  sound  ?" 

JOHN  MASON  GOOD. 

Lucretius  reasons  plausibly,  but  on  some  points,  it  is  too 
evident,  unsatisfactorily  even  to  himself.  His  work  contains 
much  that  is  worthy  of  praise,  but  this  only  makes  its  atheis- 


EXTRACT  FROM  LUCRETIUS.  351 

tical  tendencies  more  dangerous.  It  was  left  unfinished  at 
the  poet's  death,  to  be  revised  and  edited  by  other  hands. 

The  style  of  Lucretius  is  not  uniformly  harmonious ;  some 
of  his  verses  lack  polish,  and  he  inclines  to  antique  forms. 
Yet  it  is  dignified,  luminous,  and  animated;  glows  with  all  the 
poet's  enthusiasm,  and  is  marked  by  tenderness  and  pathos. 
The  pictures  drawn  are  so  real  as  to  awaken  the  emotions 
that  would  be  experienced  on  beholding  the  originals.  Schle- 
gel  gives  Lucretius  high  praise:  "As  a  painter  and  worship- 
per of  nature,  he  is  the  first  of  all  the  poets  of  antiquity." 

In  the  extract  given  below,  the  touching  description  of  the 
cow  searching  for  her  calf  that  has  been  offered  in  sacrifice, 
will  show  how  he  dignifies  commonplace  subjects : — 

VARIETY  IN  NATURE. 

"  Thus  Nature  varies ;  man,  and  brutal  beast, 
And  herbage  gay,  and  silver  fishes  mute, 
And  all  the  tribes  of  heaven,  o'er  many  a  sea, 
Through  many  a  grove  that  wing,  or  urge  their  song 
Near  many  a  bank  of  fountain,  lake,  or  rill, 
Search  where  thou  wilt,  each  differs  in  his  kind, 
In  form,  in  figure  differs.     Hence  alone 
Knows  the  fond  mother  her  appropriate  young, 
The  appropriate  young  their  mother,  'mid  the  brutes, 
As  clear  discerned  as  man's  sublimer  race. 
Thus  oft  before  the  sacred  shrine,  perfumed 
With  breathing  frankincense,  the  affrighted  calf 
Pours  o'er  the  altar,  from  his  breast  profound, 
The  purple  flood  of  life.     But  wandering  wild 
O'er  the  green  sward,  the  dam,  bereft  of  hope, 
Beats  with  her  cloven  hoof  the  indented  dale, 
Each  spot  exploring,  if,  perchance,  she  still 
May  trace  her  idol ;  through  the  umbrageous  grove, 
With  well-known  voice,  she  moans ;  and  oft  reseeks, 
Urged  by  a  mother's  love,  the  accustomed  stall. 
Nor  shade  for  her,  nor  dew-distended  glebe, 
Nor  stream  soft  gliding  down  its  banks  abrupt, 
Yields  aught  of  solace ;  nor  the  carking  care 
Averts,  that  preys  within ;  nor  the  gay  young 
Of  others  soothe  her  o'er  the  joyous  green  : 
So  deep  she  longs,  so  lingers  for  her  own. 
Thus  equal  known,  thus  longed  for,  seek,  in  turn, 


352  ROMAN    LITERATURE. 

The  tender  heifer,  tremulous  of  voice, 

Aud  the  gay  bleatiug  lamb,  their  horned  dams, 

Lured  by  the  milky  fount  that  nurtures  life." 

Catullus  (87-54  B.C.). — Verona  in  Cisalpine  Gaul  gave 
birth  to  Catullus,  the  first  great  Roman  lyrist.  It  was  no 
doubt  to  avail  himself  of  the  superior  advantages  Rome  offer- 
ed, that  while  still  in  the  greenness  of  his  youth  he  exchanged 
his  provincial  quarters  for  the  capital.  Here  we  catch  occa- 
sional glimpses  of  him — moving  among  the  elite  as  the  equal 
of  men  like  Nepos,  Hortensius,  and  Cicero  ;  or  as  the  reckless 
sensualist  throwing  himself  at  the  feet  of  some  dissolute  siren. 

Upon  the  notorious  "  Lesbia,"  who  stole,  our  poet  sung, 

"  The  charms  most  rare  of  every  fair 
To  frame  a  perfect  whole," 

Catullus  wasted  alike  his  love  and  the  finest  lyrics  of  which 
the  Latin  boasts.  The  coquettish  beauty  at  first  gloried  in  her 
conquest  of  Rome's  most  popular  poet,  and  appears  for  a  time 
to  have  been  true.  Then  she  grew  cold,  and  cast  him  off  for 
new  admirers.  But  Catullus,  though  outraged  by  her  fickle- 
ness, could  not  overcome  his  unworthy  passion : — 

"I  curse  her  every  hour  sincerely, 
Yet  hang  me — but  I  love  her  dearly." 

At  last,  however,  he  renounced  his  faithless  mistress,  bidding 
her  adieu  in  an  ode  which  closes  with  one  of  his  most  beau- 
tiful similes  : — 

"Nor  give  that  love  a  thought  which  I 
So  nursed  for  thee  in  days  gone  by, 
Now  by  thy  guile  slain  in  an  hour, 
E'en  as  some  little  wilding  flower, 
That  on  the  meadow's  border  blushed, 
Is  by  the  passing  ploughshare  crushed." 

Catullus  spent  his  hours  of  relaxation  at  his  villa  in  the 
suburbs  of  the  Latian  town  of  Ti'bur,  or  at  his  favorite  Sirmio 
on  a  lovely  lake  in  northern  Italy,  the  subject  of  one  of  his 
most  graceful  odes.  Toward  the  close  of  his  life,  in  the  hope 


CATULLUS.  353 

of  refilling  a  purse  which  his  extravagance  had  depleted,  he 
went  to  Bithynia  in  Asia  Minor  as  a  staff-officer  of  the  praetor 
Memmius,  to  whom  Lucretius  inscribed  his  poem.  But  in 
consequence  of  the  selfishness  of  his  superior,  Catullus  came 
back  with  wallet  still  lighter.  Of  two  friends  who  went  to 
Spain  on  a  similar  errand,  he  archly  inquired: — 

"  And  have  you  netted — worse  than  worst — 
A  good  deal  less  than  yon  disbursed ; 
Like  me,  who  following  about 
My  prajtor,  was — in  fact — cleaned  out?" 

The  death  of  a  brother  to  whom  he  was  devotedly  attached 
plunged  Catullus  in  grief;  and  now  with  nothing  to  live  for, 
sated  with  worldly  pleasure,  in  which  he  found  the  vanity  of 
vanities,  he  longed  for  the  fate  that  soon  overtook  him. 

THE  STYLE  OF  CATULLUS,  called  by  the  ancients  "  the  Ac- 
complished," is  lively,  graceful,  and  vigorous  ;  he  writes  in  the 
language  of  nature,  and  excels  in  suiting  his  words  to  the  sen- 
timents expressed.  The  musical  measures  of  the  Greeks, 
adapted  by  him  to  his  native  tongue,  lent  intensity  to  his 
words,  and  there  were  "lutes  in  his  very  lines."  From  the 
Greek  writers,  particularly  Sappho  and  Callimachus  of  Alex- 
andria, he  borrowed  largely.  One  of  his  odes  to  Lesbia  is  ev- 
idently an  imitation  of  Sappho's  celebrated  love-song  quoted 

on  p.  169  : — 

TO  LESBIA. 

"  Tne  equal  of  a  God  he  seems  to  me, 

Surpassing  wealth  doth  his  blessed  lot  appear, 
Who,  sitting  often  opposite  to  thee, 
May  gaze  and  hear. 

The  radiance  of  thy  smile  from  me  hath  reft, 

From  miserable  me,  all  sense  away, 
For  when  I  look  on  Lesbia  naught  is  left 
That  Love  can  say. 

My  tongue  is  dumb,  while  through  each  trembling  limb 

The  thin  flame  mounts,  till  self-wrought  murmurs  rise 
To  fill  mine  cars,  and  night  grown  doubly  dim 

Veils  o'er  mine  eyes." — C.  N.  GREGORY. 


354  ROMAN   LITERATURE. 

His  book  of  poems,  116  in  number,  was  dedicated  to  Cor- 
nelius Nepos.  Their  subjects  are  as  various  as  the  metres  in 
which  they  are  written,  for  they  reflect  the  passing  emotions 
of  the  poet,  now  lighted  with  gayety,  now  clouded  with  sorrow, 
anon  ablaze  with  love. 

Among  the  other  pieces  of  Catullus  must  be  mentioned  his 
cutting  satires,  in  which  even  Caesar  was  not  spared ;  his  ex- 
quisite epithalamiay  or  marriage-hymns ;  and  the  "  Atys,"  a 
weird  poem  remarkable  for  its  metrical  effects.  Our  poet's 
lyric  powers  may  be  further  judged  of  by  the  following 

ELEGY  ON  LESBIA'S   SPARROW. 

"  Loves  and  Graces,  mourn  with  me, 
Mourn,  fair  youths,  where'er  ye  be ! 
Dead  my  Lesbia's  sparrow  is, 
Sparrow,  that  -was  all  her  bliss, 
Than  her  very  eyes  more  dear ; 
For  he  made  ho r  dainty  cheer, 
Knew  her  well,  ad  any  maid 
Knows  her  mother,  never  strnyed 
From  her  lap,  but  still  would  go 
Hopping  round  her  to  and  fro, 
And  to  her,  and  her  alone, 
Chirrnp'd  with  such  pretty  tone. 
Now  he  treads  that  gloomy  track, 
Whence  none  ever  may  come  back. 
Out  upon  you,  and  your  power, 
Which  all  fairest  things  devour, 
Orcus'  gloomy  shades,  that  e'er 
Ye  should  take  my  bird  so  fair ! 
Oh !  poor  bird  !     Oh !  dismal  shades ! 
Yours  the  blame  is,  that  my  maid's 
Eyes,  dear  eyes!  are  swoll'n  and  red, 
Weeping  for  her  darling  dead." 

THEODORE  MARTIX. 

POETRY  OF  THE  AUGUSTAN  AGE. 

As  prose  reached  its  highest  development  in  the  last  years 
of  the  Republic,  so  many  causes  contributed  to  perfect  Latin 
verse  in  the  reign  of  the  first  Roman  emperor,  Augustus. 
Secured  upon  the  throne  by  his  triumph  at  Actium  (31  B.C.), 


POETS   OF   THE    AUGUSTAN   AGE.  355 

Augustus  pursued  a  conciliatory  course,  with  a  view  to  win- 
ning the  love  of  his  subjects,  and  he  was  eminently  success- 
ful. All  classes,  tired  of  civil  war  and  its  attendant  proscrip- 
tions and  massacres,  hailed  with  delight  the  return  of  peace ; 
and  under  the  patronage  of  the  emperor,  seconded  by  his 
minister  Maecenas,  poetry  revived. 

Augustus  was  as  fortunate  in  finding  at  Rome  a  number  of 
youthful  poets,  many  of  them  in  humble  circumstances  and  of 
provincial  origin,  as  in  the  possession  of  a  minister  who  could 
appreciate  and  foster  their  talents.  Maecenas  knew  the  value 
of  genius  too  well  to  let  it  die  of  neglect;  and  his  name,  as 
the  patron  of  art  and  letters,  has  passed  into  a  proverb.  His 
luxurious  gardens  were  the  haunt  of  poets  and  savants,  and 
round  his  sumptuous  table  sat  an  inspired  circle  who  poured 
their  grateful  tributes  into  the  ears  of  their  master  and  his. 

Thus  the  munificence  of  Augustus  and  Maecenas,  them- 
selves both  critics  and  writers,  combined  with  the  political 
quiet  that  gave  leisure  for  literary  pursuits,  to  make  their 
period  the  golden  age  of  poetry.  Prose,  on  the  other  hand, 
declined.  Political  eloquence  was  powerless  in  the  face  of 
despotism  ;  while  the  veracious  historian  must  needs  tread  a 
dangerous  path,  or  seal  his  lips. 

The  poets  of  the  Augustan  era  were  deficient,  as  a  rule,  in 
that  creative  genius  which  characterized  the  age  of  Pericles 
in  Greece,  their  works  being  rather  the  fruits  of  art  and  in- 
dustry. A  long  and  careful  training,  in  which  Greek  studies 
played  a  prominent  part,  prepared  them  for  their  high  pro- 
fession ;  Horace  tells  us  that  at  the  age  of  twenty-three  he 
was  still  "  seeking  the  truth  among  the  groves  of  Academus." 
Works  on  various  subjects  could  now  be  consulted  in  the 
public  libraries  of  Rome ;  and  Alexandrian  models  helped  to 
mould  the  literary  taste  of  the  day. 

The  Augustan  poets  will  now  be  considered  in  turn. 

Virgil. — In  the  little  village  of  Andes  near  Mantua,  on  the 
P2 


356 


ROMAN    LITERATURE. 


ROMANS  OF  TUB  ACGCSTAX  AGE. 

i5th  of  October,  B.C.  70,  Rome's  greatest  poet,  Virgil  (Pub- 
lius  Virgilius  Maro),  first  saw  the  light.  His  boyhood  was 
spent  on  the  banks  of  the  winding  Mincio  in  a  quiet  round 
of  rural  pursuits ;  his  father,  as  owner  of  a  small  farm,  being 
among  those  whom  the  poet  subsequently  pictured  as  the 
happiest  of  men. 

Alive  to  the  importance  of  education,  Virgil's  parents  set 
aside  a  portion  of  their  slender  means  to  provide  for  his  in- 
struction ;  and  when  he  reached  the  age  of  twelve,  his  father 
entered  him  in  a  school  at  Cremona.  In  his  seventeenth 
year  he  went  to  Rome,  and  there  prosecuted  the  higher  stud- 
ies, familiarizing  himself  with  the  Greek  poets,  and  spending 
his  leisure  in  the  composition  of  lyric  pieces.  Having  com- 


VIRGIL.  357 

pleted  his  education,  Virgil  returned  to  his  native  place, 
where,  amid  the  natural  attractions  that  surrounded  him,  he 
conceived  the  idea  of  rivalling  Theocritus  in  bucolic  poetry, 
and  in  42  B.C.  began  his  Eclogues. 

After  the  victory  of  the  Triumvirs  in  the  civil  war,  the 
lands  about  Cremona  and  Mantua  were  divided  among  the 
soldiers  who  had  served  against  Brutus,  and  the  estate  of 
Virgil,  neutral  though  he  had  been,  was  taken  from  him.  On 
the  poet's  application  to  Octavius,  however,  it  was  restored, 
and  in  one  of  his  Eclogues  he  gave  utterance  to  his  sincere 
gratitude.  Shortly  after,  Virgil  was  ejected  again,  and  this 
time  narrowly  escaped  with  his  life  by  swimming  the  Mincio. 
Nor  does  he  appear  to  have  ever  been  reinstated.  Octavius, 
however,  loaded  him  with  favors  j  and  a  house  in  Rome  near 
the  palace  of  his  friend  Maecenas,  with  a  lovely  villa  in  the 
suburbs  of  Naples,  where  the  climate  agreed  better  with  his 
delicate  constitution  than  the  damp  air  of  the  north,  recon- 
ciled him  to  the  loss  of  his  boyhood's  home. 

The  Eclogues,  published  about  37  B.C.,  established  Virgil's 
reputation  as  a  pastoral  poet,  and  gained  him  no  mean  place 
among  the  literary  and  political  celebrities  that  crowded 
the  house  of  Maecenas.  It  was  by  the  advice  of  this  states- 
man that  the  poet  undertook  the  most  finished  and  original 
of  all  his  productions, — the  Georgics, — a  work  which,  though 
only  about  2200  lines  in  length,  occupied  him  for  seven  years. 

Having  declared  in  this  poem  that  "he  would  wed  Caesars 
glories  to  an  epic  strain,"  Virgil  was  held  to  his  promise  by 
the  emperor,  at  whose  solicitation  he  gave  the  rest  of  his  life 
(eleven  years)  to  the  composition  of  the  ^Eneid.  In  this 
great  epic,  like  the  Odyssey  a  sequel  to  the  Iliad,  the  origin 
of  Rome  is  traced  back  to  ancient  Troy,  and  the  genealogy  of 
Augustus  to  her  greatest  surviving  hero,  "  the  pious  ^Eneas." 
Death  stopped  the  poet's  pen  when  three  years'  labor  was 
yet  necessary,  in  his  estimation,  to  perfect  his  work. 


358  EOMAN    LITEKATURE. 

It  appears  that  in  the  year  19  B.C.  Virgil  undertook  a  tour 
through  Greece  and  Asia  Minor,  to  acquaint  himself  with  the 
geography  of  the  countries  described  in  the  ^Eneid ;  but 
meeting  Augustus  at  Athens,  he  changed  his  plans  and  start- 
ed with  the  emperor  for  Rome.  On  the  way  he  was  seized 
with  a  mortal  illness,  and  only  lived  to  reach  the  harbor  of 
Brundisium  in  southern  Italy.  On  his  death-bed,  Virgil  be- 
sought his  friends  to  bring  him  the  manuscript  of  his  epic, 
that  he  might  consign  it  to  the  flames  ;  but  they  wisely  saved 
a  masterpiece  which  the  modesty  of  its  author  would  have 
condemned  to  oblivion. 

Virgil  was  interred  at  Naples.  A  simple  vault,  overgrown 
with  ivy  and  wild  myrtle,  still  marks  his  grave.  On  a  marble 
slab  set  in  the  rock  opposite  is  the  inscription  which  Dryden 
has  thus  rendered  : — 

"  I  sung  flocks,  tillage,  heroes :  Mantua  gave 
Me  liie ;  Bnmdisium,  deatli ;  Naples,  a  grave." 

Virgil  has  been  described  as  a  tall,  dark-complexioned  man, 
careless  of  his  dress,  and  with  awkward  country  airs.  His  life 
was  that  of  a  student ;  and  despite  the  fact  that  he  was  a  mar- 
tyr to  dyspepsia  and  pulmonary  disease,  he  did  not  allow  his 
delicate  health  to  interfere  with  his  literary  labors.  Of  gen- 
tle, unassuming  manners,  he  would  fly  from  the  admiring 
crowds  that  followed  him  in  the  streets ;  and  none  would 
have  inferred  from  his  appearance  or  conversation  that  he 
was  a  great  poet.  He  was  more  than  a  great  poet — he  was 
a  pure,  unselfish,  honest  man,  uncontaminated  by  the  prevail- 
ing vices.  Not  the  least  among  his  virtues  was  filial  piety. 
His  countrymen  felt  how  great  and  noble  he  was,  when  they 
rose  in  the  theatre  and  paid  him  equal  honor  with  the  em- 
peror himself. 

Had  he  lived,  it  was  Virgil's  purpose,  after  completing  the 
^Eneid,  to  study  philosophy,  the  love  of  which  he  had  imbibed 
in  early  life  from  the  verses  of  Lucretius.  The  investigation 


VIRGIL'S  ECLOGUES.  359 

of  truth  was  his  highest  aim ;  and  there  are  reasons  for  be- 
lieving that  he  had  in  mind  the  preparation  of  a  grand  phil- 
osophical poem  that  might  have  cast  into  the  shade  the 
stately  treatise  "  On  the  Nature  of  Things." 

Such  liberality  had  Virgil  experienced  from  his  friends  that 
he  left  a  fortune  of  $400,000,  to  be  divided,  as  he  never  mar- 
ried, among  his  brother,  Augustus,  Maecenas,  and  others  of 
his  associates. 

THE  ECLOGUES. — Virgil  was  the  first  Roman  writer  to  cul- 
tivate pastoral  poetry,  and  his  Eclogues  (selections],  or  more 
properly  Bucolics  (shepherd  poems},  are  mostly  dialogues,  in 
imitation  of  the  idyls  of  Theocritus.  Various  subjects  are 
charmingly  discussed  by  imaginary  shepherds,  in  whom  one 
sometimes  recognizes  the  poet  and  his  friends. 

The  least  understood  of  Virgil's  Eclogues  is  the  one  enti- 
tled "  Pollio,"  from  the  name  of  the  consul  to  whom  it  is  ad- 
dressed. It  was  written  B.C.  40,  and  predicts  the  coming  of 
a  wondrous  Child,  whose  birth  would  usher  in  a  golden  age 
of  peace  and  happiness.  Some  have  seen  in  this  child  an  un- 
conscious allusion  to  the  Babe  of  Bethlehem,  whose  advent 
the  Sibylline  oracles  are  believed  to  have  foretold.  Perhaps 
Virgil  had  heard  of  the  Hebrew  prophecies  indirectly  through 
the  Alexandrian  Greeks,  and  recast  them  in  Latin  verse ; 
perhaps  it  was  but  a  Roman  infant — Pollio's  child — whose 
birth  he  sung  in  an  exaggerated  strain.  However  this  may 
be,  we  may  remember  that  the  heathen  as  well  as  the  Jewish 
world  at  this  time  expected  a  great  reformer,  who  should  re- 
store the  innocence  and  bliss  of  by-gone  ages. 

EXTRACT  FROM  THE  POLLIO. 

"  Comes  the  Last  Age,  of  which  the  Sibyl  sung — 
A  new-born  cycle  of  the  rolling  years ; 
Justice  returns  to  earth,  the  rule  returns 
Of  good  King  Saturn  ;  lo !  from  the  high  heavens 
Comes  a  new  seed  of  men.     Lucina  chaste, 
Speed  the  fair  infant's  birth,  with  whom  shall  end 


360  K03IAN   LITERATURE. 

Our  ago  of  iron,  and  the  golden  prime 
Of  earth  return ;  thine  own  Apollo's  reigti 
In  him  begins  anew.     This  glorious  age 
Inaugurates,  O  Pollio,  with  thee; 
Thy  consulship  shall  date  the  happy  months  ; 
Under  thine  auspices  the  Child  shall  purge 
Our  guilt-stains  out,  and  free  the  land  from  dread. 
He  with  the  gods  and  heroes  like  the  gods 
Shall  hold  familiar  converse,  and  shall  rule 
With  his  great  father's  spirit  the  peaceful  world. 
For  thee,  O  Child  !  the  earth  uutilled  shall  pour 
Her  early  gifts,  the  winding  ivy's  wreath, 
Smiling  acanthus,  and  all  flowers  that  blow. 
The  ground  beneath  shall  cradle  thee  in  blooms, 
The  venomed  snake  shall  die,  the  poisonous  herb 
Perish  from  out  thy  path. 

So,  when  the  years  shall  seal  thy  manhood's  strength, 
The  busy  merchant  shall  forsake  the  seas — 
Barter  there  shall  not  need  ;  the  soil  shall  bear 
For  all  men's  use  all  products  of  all  clinics. 
The  glebe  shall  need  no  harrow,  nor  the  vino 
The  searching  knife,  the  oxen  bear  no  yoke ; 
The  wool  no  longer  shall  be  schooled  to  lie, 
Dyed  in  false  hues ;  but,  coloring  as  he  feeds, 
The  ram  himself  in  the  rich  pasture-lauds 
Shall  wear  a  fleece  now  purple  and  now  gold, 
And  the  lambs  grow  in  scarlet.     So  the  Fates, 
Who  know  not  change,  have  bid  their  spindles  run, 
And  weave  for  this  blest  age  the  web  of  doom." 

W.  L.  COLLIXS. 

THE  GEORGICS.  —  Having  shown  his  powers  in  the  Ec- 
logues, Virgil  was  not  unwilling  to  put  them  to  a  further 
proof,  when  Maecenas  suggested  a  work  on  husbandry,  which 
should  dignify  that  ancient  art  and  revive  a  love  for  the  sim- 
ple pursuits  of  the  fathers  of  the  Republic. 

Taking  Hesiod's  "Works  and  Days"  as  his  model,  he  add- 
ed the  artistic  Georgics  (agricultural  poem)  to  the  works  of 
Cato  and  Varro  on  rural  life.  No  less  elevated  in  tone  than 
theirs,  it  possesses  an  additional  attraction  in  its  dress  of 
verse,  glows  with  the  author's  love  of  nature,  and  displays  his 
ardent  zeal  to  check  the  national  decay.  Virgil  labored  upon 
the  Georgics  for  seven  years,  it  being  his  habit  to  rise  betimes 


VIRGIL'S  GEOKGICS.  3d 

and  dictate  in  the  early  morning  verses  which  he  spent  the 
rest  of  the  day  in  polishing  and  condensing. 

The  Georgics  is  a  didactic  poem,  and  as  such,  with  the 
work  of  Lucretius,  represents  the  only  department  in  which 
the  Romans  excelled  both  the  Greeks  and  all  modern  na- 
tions. The  first  of  its  four  books  is  devoted  to  tillage ;  it 
gives  directions  for  ploughing  (early  and  often,  was  Virgil's 
motto),  sowing,  and  fertilizing,  and  explains  the  signs  of  the 
weather.  We  learn  from  it  that  the  pests  of  the  modern 
farmer  were  not  unknown  to  the  old  Roman  husbandman  : — 

"  With  ponderous  roller  smooth  the  level  floor, 
And  bind  with  chalky  cement  o'er  and  o'er ; 
Lest  springing  weeds  expose  thy  want  of  art, 
And  worn  in  many  a  chink  the  surface  part: 
There  huilds  the  field-mouse  underneath  the  ground, 
And  loads  her  little  barn  with  plunder  crow  nod  ; 
There  works  the  mole  along  her  dark  abode, 
There  in  its  hollow  lurks  the  lonely  toad, 
There  wastes  the  weevil  with  insatiate  rage, 
There  the  wise  ant  that  dreads  the  wants  of  age." 

Arboriculture  is  treated  minutely  in  the  second  book,  the 
vine  receiving  the  principal  share  of  attention.  Here  we 
have  the  most  beautiful  of  those  digressions  which  lend  an 
enchanting  variety  to  the  style  of  the  Georgics  —  the  poet's 
glowing  eulogy  of  his  native  land. 

PRAISES  OF  ITALY. 

"Yet  nor  the  Median  groves,  nor  rivers,  rolled, 
Ganges,  and  Hermus,  o'er  their  beds  of  gold, 
Nor  Ind,  nor  Bactra,  nor  the  blissful  laud 
Where  incense  spreads  o'er  rich  Panchaia's  sand, 
Nor  all  that  fancy  paints  in  fabled  lays, 
O  native  Italy !  transcend  thy  praise. 
Though  here  no  bulls  beneath  the  enchanted  yoke 
With  fiery  nostril  o'er  the  furrow  smoke, 
No  hydra  teeth  embattled  harvest  yield, 
Spear  and  bright  helmet  bristling  o'er  the  field ; 
Yet  golden  corn  each  laughing  valley  fills, 
The  vintage  reddens  on  a  thousand  hills, 


362  KOMAN    LITEKATUEE. 

Luxuriant  olives  spread  from  shore  to  shore, 
And  flocks  unnumbered  range  the  pastures  o'er. 
Hence  the  proud  war-horse  rushes  on  the  foe, 
Clituuiuus!  hence  thy  herds,  more  white  than  suow, 
And  stately  bull,  that,  of  gigantic  size, 
Supreme  of  victims,  on  the  altar  lies, 
Bathed  in  thy  sacred  stream  oft  led  the  traiu 
When  Rome  in  pomp  of  triumph  deck'd  the  fane. 
Here  Spring  perpetual  leads  the  laughing  Hours, 
And  Winter  wears  a  wreath  of  summer  flowers : 
The  o'erloaded  branch  twice  fills  with  fruits  the  year, 
And  twice  the  teeming  flocks  their  offspring  rear. 

Yet  here  no  lion  breeds,  no  tiger  strays, 
No  tempting  aconite  the  touch  betrays, 
No  monstrous  snake  the  uncoiling  volume  trails, 
Or  gathers  orb  on  orb  his  iron  scales. 
But  many  a  peopled  city  towers  around, 
And  many  a  rocky  cliff  with  castle  crowned, 
And  many  an  antique  wall  whose  hoary  brow 
O'ershades  the  flood  that  guards  its  base  below. 

All  hail,  Saturnian  earth !  hail,  loved  of  fame, 
Laud,  rich  in  fruits  and  men  of  mighty  name  ! 
For  thee  I  dare  the  sacred  founts  explore, 
For  thee,  the  rules  of  ancient  art  restore, 
Themes  once  to  glory  raised  again  rehearse, 
And  pour  through  Romau  towns  the  Ascraan  verse." 

SOTHEBY. 

The  raising  of  cattle  and  the  management  of  bees  form  the 
subjects  of  the  remaining  books  of  the  Georgics. 

THE  ^ENEID  narrates  in  epic  verse  the  adventures  of  ^ne- 
as,  the  legendary  ancestor  of  the  Romans.  Virgil  sums  up 
his  plot  in  the  opening  lines  : — 

"Arms  and  the  man  I  sing,  who  first, 
By  Fate  of  Ilian  realm  amerce'd, 
To  fair  Italia  onward  bore, 
And  landed  on  Lavinium's  shore : — 
Long  tossing  earth  and  ocean  o'er, 
By  violence  of  heaven,  to  sate 
Fell  Juno's  unforgetting  hate  : 
Much  labored  too  in  battle-field, 
Striving  his  city's  walls  to  build, 

And  give  his  Gods  a  home. 
Thence  come  the  hardy  Latin  brood, 
The  ancient  sires  of  Alba's  blood, 

And  lofty-rampired  Rome." 


VIRGIL'S  ^ENEID.  363 


./Eneas,  the  son  of  Venus  by  the  Trojan  shepherd  Anchi'- 
ses,  escaped  from  burning  Troy  with  his  aged  father,  little 
son,  and  household  gods.  He  lay  concealed  for  a  time  in  the 
mountains  ;  and,  when  the  victorious  Greeks  had  all  with- 
drawn, took  ship  with  the  remnant  of  his  people  to  found  a 
new  Troy  in  the  west.  After  seven  years  of  hardships  and 
mistakes,  the  Trojans  embark  from  Sicily  for  "the  Hespe- 
rian shore." 

Here  the  ^Eneid  takes  up  the  story.  In  the  first  book  we 
see  the  Trojan  fleet  driven  by  a  tempest,  sent  at  Juno's  solic- 
itation, on  the  opposite  coast  of  Africa,  near  the  rising  walls 
of  Carthage.  Dido,  its  queen,  whom  the  murder  of  her  hus- 
band Sichaeus  by  her  unnatural  brother  had  driven  from  Tyre, 
receives  the  strangers  hospitably,  and  by  the  strategy  of  Ve- 
nus conceives  a  passionate  love  for  ^Eneas.  At  her  request 
the  Trojan  prince  tells  the  pathetic  story  —  the  fall  of  his  na- 
tive city  through  the  wiles  of  the  Greeks,  and  his  subsequent 
trials. 

^Eneas  returns  Dido's  love,  but  only  at  last  to  betray  his 
confiding  hostess,  and  fly  with  his  vessels  under  cover  of  the 
night,  in  obedience  to  a  warning  from  Mercury,  the  messen- 
ger of  Jove.  Too  "  pious  "  to  disregard  the  heavenly  com- 
mand, he  left  Dido  to  end  her  sorrow  on  the  funeral  pyre. 

After  a  temporary  sojourn  in  Sicily,  where  he  celebrates 
funeral  games  to  his  father's  memory,  ^Eneas  at  length  reaches 
Cumae  in  Italy,  and  at  once  seeks  the  Sibyl.  She  informs 
him  that  his  trials  are  not  over,  and  takes  him  to  the  lower 
world  that  he  may  hold  an  interview  with  his  father  Anchises. 
There  he  descries  among  other  shades  the  injured  Dido,  to 
whom  he  endeavors  to  excuse  his  conduct. 

"  'Mid  these  among  the  branching  treen 
Sad  Dido  moved,  the  Tyrian  queen, 
Her  death-wound  ghastly  yet  and  green. 
Soon  as  .(Eneas  caught  the  view 
And  through  the  mist  her  semblance  knew, 


364  KOMAN   LITEKATUKE. 

Like  one  who  spies,  or  thinks  he  spies, 
Through  flickering  clouds  the  new  moon  rise, 
The  tear-drop  from  his  eyelids  broke, 
And  thus  iu  tenderest  tones  he  spoke  . 

'  Ah  Dido !  rightly  then  I  read 
The  news  that  told  me  you  were  dead, 

Slain  by  your  own  rash  hand ! 
Myself  the  cause  of  your  despair! 
Now  by  the  blessed  stars  I  swear, 
By  heaven,  by  all  that  dead  men  keep 
In  reverence  here  'mid  darkness  deep, 
Against  my  will,  ill-fated  fair, 

I  parted  from  your  laud.'  " 

CONINGTOX. 

But  Dido  averts  her  eyes  "  that  neither  smiled  nor  wept," 
and  moves  away  in  silence  to  join  Sichaeus,  who  "gives  her 
love  for  love." 

JEneas  learns  from  the  lips  of  Anchises  the  future  of  his 
race,  and  beholds  the  shadowy  forms  of  kings,  generals,  and 
statesmen  that  are  to  shed  glory  on  the  Roman  name.  "Au- 
gustus Cassar,  god  by  birth,"  figures,  as  we  should  expect,  the 
proudest  of  the  throng.  At  last  he  espies  the  great  Marcel- 
lus,  "  the  Sword  of  Rome,"  glittering  in  the  spoils  of  the  Pu- 
nic War ;  and  by  his  side 

"  A  youth  full-armed,  by  none  excelled 
In  beauty's  manly  grace." 

In  answer  to  the  inquiry  of  yEneas,  Anchises  tells  his  son 
that  this  youth  is  "  our  own  Marcellus,"  and  eulogizes  his  vir- 
tues. Thus  Virgil  immortalized  the  name  of  a  Roman  prince 
of  great  promise,  son  of  Octavia,  the  emperor's  sister,  whose 
premature  death  had  filled  the  Roman  world  with  sorrow. 
When,  at  the  request  of  Augustus,  the  poet  read  this  portion 
of  his  epic  before  the  royal  family,  all  were  moved  to  tears, 
and  the  bereaved  mother  fainted.  She  afterward  showed  her 
appreciation  of  Virgil's  genius  by  presenting  him  about  $400 
for  each  of  the  twenty-seven  lines.  The  passage  is  well  worth 
repeating  here : — 


VIUGIL'S  ^ENEID.  365 


VIRGIL'S   TRIBUTE   TO  MARCELLUS. 

"  Seek  not  to  know  (the  ghost  replied  with  tears) 
The  sorrows  of  thy  sous  in  future  years. 
This  youth  (the  blissful  vision  of  a  day) 
Shall  just  be  shown  on  earth,  then  snatched  away. 
The  gods  too  high  had  raised  the  Roman  state, 
Were  but  their  gifts  as  permanent  as  great. 
What  groans  of  men  shall  fill  the  Martian  field  ! 
How  fierce  a  blaze  his  flaming  pile  shall  yield  ! 
What  funeral  pomp  shall  floating  Tiber  see, 
When  rising  from  his  bed,  he  views  the  sad  solemnity! 
No  youth  shall  equal  hopes  of  glory  give, 
No  youth  afford  so  great  a  cause  to  grieve. 
The  Trojan  honor,  and  the  Roman  boast, 
Admired  when  living,  and  adored  when  lost! 
Mirror  of  ancient  faith  in  early  youth  ! 
Undaunted  worth,  inviolable  truth  ! 
No  foe,  unpunished,  in  the  fighting  field 
Shall  dare  thee,  foot  to  foot,  with  sword  and  shield! 
Much  less  in  arms  oppose  thy  matchless  force, 
When  thy  sharp  spurs  shall  urge  thy  foaming  horse. 
Ah!  couldst  thou  break  through  Fate's  severe  decree, 
A  new  Marcellus  shall  arise  iu  thee! 
Full  canisters  of  fragrant  lilies  bring, 
Mixed  with  the  purple  roses  of  the  spring  : 
Let  me  with  funeral  flowers  his  body  strow  ; 
This  gift  which  parents  to  their  children  owe, 
This  unavailing  gift,  at  least  I  may  bestow  !"  —  DRYDEN. 

From  Cumae  the  Trojan  chief  sails  to  Latium,  the  land  of 
his  destiny,  and  there  he  receives  from  King  Lati'nus  the 
promise  of  his  daughter  Lavinia's  hand.  But  this  provokes  a 
war  with  Turnus,  a  neighboring  prince,  to  whom  Lavinia  had 
been  secretly  plighted  by  the  queen-mother.  Not  until  he 
had  subdued  Turnus  and  his  Latin  allies  did  ^Eneas  make 
Lavinia  his  own  and  rule  as  king  of  Latium.  The  poem 
ends  with  the  fall  of  Turnus  in  a  duel  between  the  rival 
chiefs.  To  finish  the  story,  Alba  Longa  was  built  by  Ene- 
as' son  lulus,  from  whose  royal  line  in  later  ages  sprung 
Romulus,  founder  of  Rome,  the  Julian  family,  and  their 
great  hero  Julius  Caesar. 

The  passion  of  Dido,  as  portrayed  in  the  fourth  book  of  the 


366  ROMAN    LITERATURE. 

^Eneid,  is  the  most  masterly  piece  of  Virgil's  handiwork.    We 
present  below  the  closing  scenes  that  sealed  her  sad  fate. 

THE   DEATH   OF  DIDO. 

"Now,  rising  from  Tithonus'  bed, 
The  Dawn  ou  earth  her  freshness  shed : 
The  queen  from  off  her  turret  height 
Perceives  the  first  dim  streak  of  light, 
The  fleet  careering  on  its  way, 
And  void  and  sailless  shore  and  bay ; 
She  smites  her  breast,  all  snowy  fair, 
And  rends  her  goldeu  length  of  hair: 
'  Great  Jove !  and  shall  he  go  ?'  she  cries, 

'  And  leave  our  realm  a  wanderer's  mock  ? 
Quick,  snatch  your  arms  and  chase  the  prize, 

And  drag  the  vessels  from  the  dock  ! 
Fetch  flames,  bring  darts,  ply  oars! — yet  why  f 
What  words  are  these,  or  where  am  I  ? 
Why  ra-ve  I  thus  ?     Those  impious  deeds — 
Poor  Dido !  how  your  torn  heart  bleeds. 
Too  late!  it  should  have  bled  that  day 
When  at  his  feet  your  sceptre  lay. 
Lo  here,  the  chief  of  stainless  word, 
Who  takes  his  household  gods  ou  board, 
Whose  shoulders  safe  from  sword  and  fire 
Conveyed  his  venerable  sire ! 
Oh !  had  I  rent  him  limb  from  limb 
And  cast  him  o'er  the  waves  to  swim, 
His  friends,  his  own  Ascanius  killed, 
And  with  the  child  the  father  filled ! 
Yet  danger  in  the  strife  had  been  : — 

Who  prates  of  danger  here  ? 
A  death-devoted,  desperate  queen, 

What  foe  had  I  to  fear  ? 
No,  I  had  sown  the  flame  broadcast, 
Had  fired  the  fleet  from  keel  to  mast, 
Slain  son  and  sire,  stamped  out  the  race, 
And  thrown  at  length  with  steadfast  face 

Myself  upon  the  bier. 

If  needs  must  be  that  wretch  abhorred 

Attain  the  port  and  float  to  land ; 
If  such  the  fate  of  heaven's  high  lord, 

And  so  the  moveless  pillars  stand  ; 
Scourged  by  a  savage  enemy, 

An  exile  from  his  son's  embrace, 


EXTRACT   FROM   VIRGII/S    ^ENEID.  367 

So  let  him  sue  for  aid,  and  see 

His  people  slain  before  liis  face ; 
Nor  when  to  humbling  peace  at  length 

He  stoops,  be  his  or  life  or  laud, 
But  let  him  fall  in  manhood's  strength 

And  welter  tombless  on  the  sand. 
Such  malison  to  heaven  I  pour, 
A  last  libation  with  my  gore. 
And,  Tyrians,  you  through  time  to  come 

His  seed  with  deathless  hatred  chase : 
Be  that  your  gift  to  Dido's  tomb : 

No  love,  no  league  'twixt  race  and  race. 
Rise  from  my  ashes,  scourge  of  crime, 

Born  to  pursue  the  Cardan  horde 
To-day,  to-morrow,  through  all  time, 

Oft  as  our  hands  can  wield  the  sword : 
Fight  shore  with  shore,  fight  sea  with  sea, 
Fight  all  that  are  or  e'er  shall  be !' 

She  ceased,  and  with  her  heart  debates 
How  best  to  leave  the  life  she  hates. 
Then  to  Sichaens'  nurse  she  cried 
(For  hers  ere  while  at  Tyre  had  died) : — • 
'  Good  nurse,  my  sister  Anna  bring : 
O'er  face  and  body  bid  her  fling 

Pure  drops  from  lustra!  bough: 
So  sprinkled  come,  and  at  her  side 
The  victims  lead:  you  too  provide 

A  fillet  for  your  brow. 
A  sacrifice  to  Stygian  Jove 
I  hero  perform,  to  ease  my  love, 
And  give  to  flame  the  fatal  bed 
Which  pillowed  once  the  Trojan's  head.' 
Thus  she :  the  aged  dame  gives  heed, 
And,  feebly  hurrying,  mends  her  speed. 

Then,  maddening  over  crime,  the  queen, 

With  bloodshot  eyes,  and  sanguine  streaks 

Fresh  painted  on  her  quivering  cheeks, 
And  wanning  o'er  with  death  foreseen, 
Through  inner  portals  wildly  fares, 

Scales  the  high  pile  with  swift  ascentj 
Takes  up  the  Dardan  sword  and  bares, 

Sad  gift,  for  different  uses  meant. 
She  eyed  the  robes  with  wistful  look, 

And,  pausing,  thought  awhile  and  wept : 
Then  pressed  her  to  the  couch,  and  spoke 

Her  last  good-night  or  ere  she  slept. 


368  KOMAX    LITERATURE. 

'  Sweet  relics  of  a  time  of  love, 

When  fate  aud  heaven  were  kind, 
Receive  my  life-blood  and  remove 

These  torments  of  the  mind. 
My  life  is  lived,  and  I  have  played 

The  part  that  Fortune  gave, 
Aud  now  I  pass,  a  queenly  shade, 

Majestic  to  the  grave. 
A  glorious  city  I  have  built, 

Have  seen  my  walls  ascend, 
Chastised  for  blood  of  husband  spilt 

A  brother,  yet  no  friend. 
Blest  lot!  yet  lacked  one  blessing  more, 
That  Troy  had  never  touched  my  shore.' 
Then  as  she  kissed  the  darling  bed, 
'  To  die !  and  unrevenged !'  she  said, 
'  Yet  let  me  die :  thus,  thus  I  go 
Exulting  to  the  shades  below. 
Let  the  false  Dardan  feel  the  blaze 
That  burns  me  pouring  on  his  gaze, 
And  bear  along,  to  cheer  his  way, 
Tljti  funeral  presage  of  to-day.' 

Thus  as  she  speaks,  the  attendant  train 
Behold  her  writhing  as  in  pain, 
Her  hands  with  slaughter  sprinkled  o'er, 
And  the  fell  weapon  spouting  gore. 
Loud  clamors  thrill  the  lofty  halls : 
Fame  shakes  the  town,  confounds,  appalls : 
Each  house  resounds  with  women's  cries, 
And  funeral  wails  assault  the  skies : 
E'en  as  one  day  should  Avar  o'erthrow 

Proud  Carthage  or  her  parent  Tyre, 
And  fire-flood  stream  with  furious  glow 

O'er  roof,  and  battlement,  and  spire." 

CONINGTOX. 

Virgil's  epic  was  the  pride  of  his  countrymen,  who,  with  a 
pardonable  national  vanity,  pronounced  it  superior  to  Ho- 
mer's. Tenderness,  grace,  elegance,  rhythmical  perfection, 
brilliance  of  description,  it  certainly  possesses ;  yet,  with  all 
its  beauties,  it  is  not  faultless.  We  miss  the  wonderful  imag- 
ination that  plays  through  every  page  of  the  Iliad ;  indeed, 
Homer  furnished  the  originals  of  many  of  its  most  striking 
figures.  Nor  did  Virgil  disdain  levying  on  Latin  authors  also. 


HORACE.  369 

Whatever  recommended  itself  to  him  in  the  poetry  of  others, 
he  borrowed  for  his  own.  And  yet  he  must  not  be  regarded 
as  a  plagiarist ;  doubtless  it  was  his  intention  to  enshrine  in 
a  national  epic  literary  monuments  of  all  the  great  minds  of 
his  country. 

^Eneas,  his  hero,  too  often  appears  as  the  boaster  or  the 
heartless  hypocrite,  rather  than  as  the  ideal  of  greatness  and 
piety  it  was  designed  to  draw.  The  author  himself  seems  to 
have  felt  the  inferiority  of  his  epic  to  the  Iliad,  and  hence  his 
wish  to  destroy  it  We  are  told  that  it  was  first  written  in 
prose ;  and  then  the  artist,  having  a  clear  conception  of  the 
whole,  threw  different  portions  into  verse  as  the  spirit  moved 
him. 

Horace  (65-8  B.C.).— The  great  lyric  poet  of  Rome  was 
Horace  (Quintus  Horatius  Flaccus),  a  freedman's  son,  of 
Venusia  on  the  roaring  Au'fidus.  That  he  might  enjoy  the 
best  educational  advantages,  his  father  took  him  to  Rome  at 
the  early  age  of  twelve.  Here  he  was  placed  in  charge  of  a 
famous  schoolmaster,  called  by  his  pupils  "  the  Flogger ;" 
under  whose  rod  the  country  lad  made  the  acquaintance  of 
Ennius  and  Homer.  To  the  watchful  care  and  liberality  of 
his  parent,  who  remained  to  guard  him  from  the  temptations 
of  the  metropolis,  he  gratefully  acknowledged  that  he  owed 
everything. 

Horace  was  at  Athens,  finishing  his  course,  when  Cassar 
fell  beneath  the  daggers  of  the  conspirators.  With  a  number 
of  hot-headed  fellow-students  he  promptly  espoused  the  cause 
of  Brutus  the  Liberator,  and  served  in  the  civil  war  as  mili- 
tary tribune.  But  Horace's  courage  could  not  stand  the  touch 
of  cold  steel ;  he  ignominiously  fled  from  the  field  of  Philippi, 
and  his  estate  was  confiscated  as  a  reward  for  his  patriotism. 
Poverty  now  compelled  him  to  take  a  clerkship  at  Rome  ; 
and  to  add  to  his  slender  income  he  began  writing  verses. 
This  brought  him  into  notice,  and  in  38  B.C.  he  had  the  hon- 


370  ROMAN   LITERATURE. 

or  of  an  introduction  to  the  social  circle  that  gathered  round 
Maecenas.  His  little  farm,  fifteen  miles  from  Tibur,  the  ruins 
of  which  are  still  pointed  out  to  tourists,  was  the  gift  of  his 
munificent  patron. 

This  "  Sabine  farm  "  was  at  once  Horace's  joy  and  pride. 
Between  Rome  and  Tibur,  therefore,  he  made  frequent  jour- 
neys, and  the  simple  country-folk,  won  by  his  affability,  hailed 
with  delight  the  occasions  when,  tired  of  city  excitements,  he 
sought  relaxation  among  them.  Beset  by  the  throng  of  gos- 
sips and  favor-seekers  who  haunted  his  footsteps  as  the  friend 
of  Maecenas,  Horace  in  his  Sixth  Satire  breaks  out  into  enthu- 
siastic praises  of  his  rural  home,  with  its  simple  fare  and  free- 
dom from  annoyances : — 

"  This  fortune's  favorite  son  ('tis  cried) 
Is  ever  by  Maecenas'  side, 
Companion  \vheresoe'er  he  goes, 
In  rural  sports  or  festal  shows. 
Should  any  rumor,  without  head 
Or  tail,  about  the  streets  be  spread, 
Whoever  meets  me  gravely  nods, 
And  says,  'As  you  approach  the  gods, 
It  is  no  mystery  to  you  ; 
What  do  the  Dacians  mean  to  do  ?' 
'  Indeed  I  know  not.' — '  How  you  joke, 
And  love  to  sneer  at  simple  folk.' 
'  Then,  pr'ythee,  where  are  Caesar's  bauds 
Allotted  their  long-promised  lands  ?' 
.  Although  I  swear  I  know  no  more 
Of  that  than  what  was  asked  before, 
They  stand  amazed,  and  think  me  then 
The  most  reserved  of  mortal  men. 
Bewildered  thus  amidst  a  maze, 
I  lose  the  sunshine  of  my  days, 
And  often  wish :  Oh !  when  again 
Shall  I  behold  the  rural  plain  ? 
And  when  with  books  of  sages  deep 
Sequestered  ease  and  gentle  sleep, 
In  sweet  oblivion,  blissful  balm ! 
The  busy  cares  of  life  becalm. 
Oh  !  when  shall  Pythagoric  beans 
With  wholesome  juice  enrich  my  veins  T 


IIOKACE.  371 

Aud  bacon,  Lam,  and  savory  pottage, 
Be  served  within  my  simple  cottage  ? 
O  uights  that  furnish  such  a  feast 
As  even  gods  themselves  might  taste !" 

FRANCIS. 

The  loss  of  his  friend  Virgil  cast  a  shadow  over  Horace's 
latter  years.  His  own  death  was  sudden.  A  short  month 
before,  Maecenas  had  breathed  his  last ;  and  thus  the  promise 
of  the  poet  not  to  survive  his  patron  was  almost  literally  ful- 
filled. In  an  ode  to  Maecenas,  Horace  had  sung, 

"  Should  you,  alas !  be  snatched  away, 
Wherefore,  ah !  wherefore  should  I  stay, 
My  value  lost,  no  longer  whole, 
And  but  possessing  half  my  soul? 
One  day  (believe  the  sacred  oath) 
Shall  lead  the  funeral  pomp  of  both ; 
With  thee  to  Pluto's  dark  abode, 
With  thee  I'll  tread  the  dreary  road." 

The  remains  of  the  poet  were  laid  by  the  side  of  his  friend; 
and  thus,  devoted  to  each  other  in  life,  they  slept  together  in 
the  grave. 

Horace,  in  his  youth,  was  a  free  liver,  a  voluptuary ;  such, 
indeed,  were  the  men  of  his  day,  Virgil  alone  excepted.  Time, 
however,  corrected  his  tastes,  and  at  the  close  of  his  life  we 
find  him  playing  the  part  of  the  moralist.  If  there  is  much  to 
condemn  in  his  character,  there  is  also  much  to  admire, — his 
even  temper,  contented  disposition,  and  independent  spirit. 
Quick  to  resent  an  affront,  he  was  as  ready  to  forgive  an  in- 
jury. His  friends  found  him  ever  a  genial,  frank,  warm- 
hearted companion. 

As  to  his  personal  appearance,  we  may  judge  from  his  own^ 
accounts  that  he  was  gray  in  advance  of  his  years,  short,  cor- 
pulent, and  withal  blear-eyed.      This  last  defect  furnished 
Augustus  with  a  ready  joke,  when  he  had  Horace  on  one  side 
and  the  asthmatic  Virgil  on  the  other :  "  I  sit  between  sighs 

and  tears,"  he  used  to  say. 

Q 


372  ROMAN   LITERATURE. 

WORKS  OF  HORACE. — The  earliest  poetical  efforts  of  Hor- 
ace were  Satires,  which,  though  written  in  hexameter  verse, 
he  called  prose-poems.  Holding  up  to  contempt  the  follies  of 
fashionable  society,  fortune -hunting,  extravagance,  avarice, 
etc.,  they  pleased  the  Romans  and  rapidly  grew  in  popularity. 
But  Horace  merely  derides,  he  does  not  chastise,  the  vices  of 
his  day,  evidently  deeming  ridicule  a  more  effective  weapon 
than  denunciation. 

In  his  Epodes,  Horace  aimed  his  blows  at  individuals  with 
something  like  the  force  of  Archilochus.  But  personal  satire 
was  not  the  author's  forte,  and  his  Epodes  are  hardly  equal 
to  his  other  productions. 

It  is  to  his  Odes,  in  the  lyric  metres  of  Alcaeus  and  Sappho, 
whose  poetry  he  not  only  loved,  but  recast  after  his  own  ideas 
in  his  native  tongue,  that  Horace  owes  his  renown.  Always 
brief  and  to  the  point,  clear  and  elegant  in  their  condensa- 
tion, graceful,  spicy,  true  to  nature,  these  poems  have  been 
read  with  pleasure  for  nineteen  centuries.  They  deal  with  a 
great  variety  of  subjects — the  grand  as  well  as  the  common- 
place ;  and,  whatever  the  theme,  their  author  is  equally  ad- 
mirable. He  paints  pictures  of  moral  beauty  and  sublimity 
with  singular  impressiveness.  Nowhere  in  the  classics  is  a 
nobler  character  sketched  than  that  drawn  by  Horace  of  a 
man  firm  in  the  cause  of  justice  (Book  III.,  3).  Byron  pre- 
sejnts  it  in  an  English  dress : — 

"  The  man  of  firm  and  noble  soul 
No  factious  clamors  can  control ; 
No  tlireat'uiug  tyrant's  darkling  brow 

Can  swerve  him  from  his  just  intent : 
Gales  the  warring  waves  which  plough 

By  Auster  on  the  billows  spent, 
To  curb  the  Adriatic  main, 
Would  awe  his  fixed,  determined  mind  in  vain. 

Ay,  and  the  red  right  arm  of  Jo-re, 
Hurtling  his  lightnings  from  above, 


ODES    OF   HORACE.  3/"3 

With  all  his  terrors  then  unfurled, 

He  would  uumoved,  uuawed  behold : 
The  flames  of  an  expiring  world 

Again  in  crashing  chaos  rolled, 
In  vast  promiscuous  ruin  hurled, 
Might  light  his  glorious  funeral  pile : 
Still  dauntless,  'mid  the  wreck  of  earth  he'd  smile." 

Horace  began  writing  his  odes  at  the  age  of  thirty-five,  and 
was  seven  years  in  completing  the  first  three  books ;  they 
were  issued  23  B.C.  That  he  designed  them  to  include  all 
his  lyric  productions  is  evident  from  the  following  ode,  with 
which  the  third  book  closes  : — 

"And  now  'tis  done  :  more  durable  than  brass 
My  monument  shall  be,  and  raise  its  head 
O'er  royal  pyramids  :  it  shall  not  dread 

Corroding  rain  or  angry  Boreas, 

Nor  the  long  lapse  of  immemorial  time. 
I  shall  not  wholly  die :  large  residue 
Shall  'scape  the  queen  of  funerals.  Ever  new 

My  after-fame  shall  grow,  while  pontiffs  climb 

With  silent  maiils  the  Capitolian  height. 

'  Born,'  men  \vill  say,  '  where  Aufidus  is  loud, 
Where  Daunus,  scant  of  streams,  beneath  him  bowed 

The  rustic  tribes,  from  dimness  he  waxed  bright, 

First  of  his  race  to  wed  the  jEoliau  lay 
To  notes  of  Italy.'     Put  glory  on, 
My  own  Melpomene,  by  genius  won, 

And  crown  me  of  thy  grace  with  Delphic  bay." 

COMXGTON. 

-  The  odes  of  the  fourth  book  were  written  at  the  request  of 
Augustus,  who  commissioned  the  favorite  poet  to  celebrate 
the  victories  of  his  step-sons  over  a  German  tribe.  After  pub- 
lishing the  original  three  books,  Horace  wrote  his  Epistles, 
the  most  finished  of  all  his  works.  They  bear  the  ripe  fruits 
of  his  experience,  and  are  full  of  wise  reflections  which  do 
credit  to  his  knowledge  of  men  and  manners.  Sprightliness 
and  wit  constitute  their  charm.  Their  subjects  are  various, 
several  of  them  being  literary  criticisms ;  the  longest,  called 
"  the  Art  of  Poetry,"  possesses  the  greatest  value. 


374  ROMAN   LITERATURE. 

The  works  of  Horace  have  maintained  their  popularity  in 
all  ages;  his  sententious  sayings  have  become  aphorisms;  and 
to-day  he  is  a  greater  favorite  with  scholars  than  ever.  Few 
classical  poets  have  been  so  fortunate  in  their  translators. 

ODE  TO  MAECENAS. 

"  Strong  doors,  wakeful  watch-dogs,  securely  had  barred 

Dauae  in  her  tower  of  brass, 
If  Venns  and  Jove  had  not  laughed  at  such  guard 
And  the  shower  of  gold  caused  to  pass. 

Through  an  army  of  guards  will  bright  gold  make  its  way; 

It  will  pierce  through  the  thickest  of  walls  ; 
More  power  it  has  and  may  strike  more  dismay 

Than  the  lightning  from  heaven  that  falls. 

Through  lucre  the  house  of  the  Argive  seer*  fell: 

Philip  forced  cities'  gates  with  his  gold ; 
The  power  of  rivals  with  bribes  he  could  quell : 

We  know,  too,  how  fleets  have  been  sold. 

The  iucrease  of  wealth  ever  brings  with  it  care 

And  hungry  ambition  for  more ; 
Thus,  Maecenas,  O  knight  with  whom  none  can  compare! 

Great  fortune  I  ever  forswore. 

The  more  that  a  man  to  himself  shall  deny, 

The  more  he  shall  have  from  the  gods ; 
Poor,  I  seek  for  the  home  of  contentment,  and  fly 

With  joy  from  the  wealthy  abodes. 

With  my  stream  of  pure  water,  few  acres  of  wood, 

And  secure  that  my  harvest  will  pay, 
A  pleasure  I  have  more  substantial  than  could 

Be  to  him  that  o'er  Afric  holds  sway. 

Though  for  me  never  works  the  Calabrian  bee, 

Though  for  me  is  no  Formian  wine, 
Though  no  sheep  in  the  pastures  of  Gaul  feed  for  me, 

Yet  poverty  never  is  mine. 


*  Amphiara'us,  whose  wife  betrayed  him  for  a  pearl  necklace,  and  was  after- 
ward  murdered  by  her  son. 


VARIUS. — TIBULLUS.  373 

Much  must  that  man  want  ever  who  much  shall  demand ; 

What  he  gains  whets  the  covetous  vice ; 
Happy  he  to  whom  God  with  a  niggardly  hand 

Has  granted  what  yet  will  suffice." — YARDLEY. 


TO  PYRRHA. 

"  What  scented  stripling,  Pyrrha,  wooes  thee  now 

In  pleasant  cavern,  all  with  roses  fair? 
For  whom  those  yellow  tresses  hiudest  thou 

With  simple  care  ? 

Full  oft  shall  he  thine  altered  faith  bewail, 
His  altered  gods ;  and  his  unwonted  gazo 
Shall  watch  the  waters  darken  to  the  gale 
In  wild  amaze, 

Who  now  believing  gloats  on  golden  charms ; 

Who  hopes  thee  ever  kind  and  ever  void ; 
Nor,  hapless!  knows  the  changeful  wind's  alarms, 
Nor  thee,  untried. 

For  me,  let  Neptune's  temple  wall  declare 

How,  safe  escaped,  in  votive  offering 
.  My  dripping  garments  own,  suspended  there, 
Him  Ocean-king." 

GLADSTONE. 

Varius  (74-14  B.C.).— Older  than  Horace  or  Virgil  in  the 
Augustan  galaxy  was  Varius,  the  friend  who  introduced  them 
both  to  Maecenas.  An  epic  on  the  death  of  Caesar,  highly 
esteemed  by  his  countrymen, — and  a  tragedy  entitled  "Thy- 
estes,"  classed  with  the  finest  Greek  dramas, — have  won  for 
Varius  an  enviable  fame. 

Both  are  lost ;  but  we  still  have  the  benefit  of  the  poet's 
labors  as  the  editor  of  Virgil's  ^-Eneid. 

Albius  Tibullus  (59-19  B.C.),  another  poet  of  the  Augustan 
age,  perfected  the  erotic  elegy  which  Catullus  had  introduced 
from  Greece.  The  meagre  accounts  that  remain  of  his  life  in- 
form us  that  he  was  a  knight,  and  lost  his  estates  near  Rome 
for  political  reasons,  after  the  overthrow  of  Pompey.  These 
he  partially  recovered,  it  is  supposed  through  the  influence  of 


376  ROMAN   LITER ATUKE. 

Messa'la,  a  noble  of  the  old  school,  whose  praises  he  never 
tired  of  sounding.  As  aide-de-camp,  he  accompanied  Mes- 
sala  in  his  expedition  against  the  rebellious  Aquitanians,  and 
doubtless  figured  in  the  triumph  decreed  his  victorious  friend 
by  the  emperor. 

A  peaceful  life,  however,  was  more  in  accordance  with  his 
tastes.  The  hills  and  dales,  the  corn-fields,  vineyards,  and 
meadows,  possessed  greater  charms  for  him  than  the  favor  of 
Augustus,  who  vainly  sought  to  attract  Tibullus  to  his  court. 
Hence  we  find  the  poet  generally  living  at  his  country-seat, 
amid  rural  enjoyments. 

The  elegies  of  Tibullus  preserve  the  names  of  two  Roman 
beauties — "Delia,"  the  early  mistress  of  his  heart,  and*Nem'- 
esis,"  her  successor.  Delia,  "with  her  queenly  charms  and 
golden  locks,"  first  brought  him  to  her  feet,  and  he  wooed  her 
in  his  most  finished  strains.  But,  like  Catullus,  he  soon  found 
occasion  to  lament  his  fair  one's  inconstancy.  Delia  jilted 
him  for  a  richer  lover,  and  Tibullus  transferred  his  affections 
to  the  imperious  Nemesis. 

The  style  of  Tibullus  is  sweet  and  polished.  A  pensive, 
almost  melancholy  tone  pervades  his  verses.  In  the  follow- 
ing plaintive  elegy,  the  injured  but  forgiving  poet  recalls  to 
his  false  one  how  tenderly  he  nursed  her  through  a  critical 
sickness,  picturing  his  dream  of  happiness  with  her  installed 
as  the  mistress  of  his  rural  home,  and  his  rude  awakening: — 

ELEGY  TO   DELIA. 

"  Oh !  I  was  harsh  to  say  that  I  could  part 

From  thce ;  but,  Delia,  I  am  bold  110  more ! 
Driven  like  a  top,  which  boys  with  ready  art 
Keep  spinning  round  upon  a  level  floor. 

Burn,  lash  me,  love,  if  ever  after  this 

By  me  one  cruel,  blustering  word  is  said  : 

Yet  spare,  I  pray  tliee  by  our  stolen  bliss, 
By  mighty  Venus  and  thy  comely  head. 


PROPEKTIUS.  377 

When  thou  didst  lie,  by  foil  disease  o'erpowered, 
I  rescued  thee,  by  prayers,  from  death's  domaiu  ; 

Pure  sulphur's  cleansiug  fumes  I  round  thee  showered, 
While  an  enchantress  sung  a  magic  strain. 

Yes — and  another  now  enjoys  the  prize, 

And  reaps  the  fruit  of  all  my  vows  for  thee : 

Foolish,  I  dreamed  of  life  'ueath  golden  skies, 

Wert  thou  but  saved — not  such  great  heaven's  decree. 

I  said — I'll  till  my  fields,  she'll  guard  my  store 

When  crops  are  threshed  in  autumn's  burning  heat ; 

She'll  keep  my  grapes  in  baskets  brimming  o'er, 
And  my  rich  must  expressed  by  nimble  feet. 

She'll  count  my  flock ;  some  home-born  slave  of  mine 
Will  prattle  in  my  darling's  lap  and  play  : 

To  rural  god  ripe  clusters  for  the  vine, 

Sheaves  for  my  crops,  cates  for  my  fold,  she'll  pay. 

Slaves — all  shall  own  her  undisputed  rule; 

Myself  a  cipher — how  the  thought  would  please! 
Here  will  Messala  come,  for  whom  she'll  pull 

The  sweetest  apples  from  the  choicest  trees; 

And,  honoring  one  so  great,  for  him  prepare 

And  serve  the  banquet  with  her  own  white  hands. 

Fond  dream  !  which  now  the  east  and  south  winds  bear 
Away  to  far  Armenia's  spicy  lands." 

CRAXSTOCN. 

Propertius. — With  the  name  of  Tibullus  is  often  linked 
that  of  Propertius,  who  was  born  about  50  B.C.  at  Assisium, 
among  the  Umbrian  mountains.  In  this  lovely  spot  he  was 
prepared  for  the  study  of  the  law,  which  he  afterward  adopted 
as  his  profession  at  Rome.  But  Propertius  found  this  calling 
distasteful;  relinquishing  it,  accordingly,  for  the  pursuits  of 
literature,  he  aspired  to  be  a  Roman  Callimachus,  and  ground- 
ed himself  in  the  principles  of  Alexandrian  verse.  But  too 
much  study  made  him  artificial,  and  his  numerous  mytholog- 
ical allusions  and  digressions  encumber  rather  than  embel- 
lish. He  lacks  the  sweetness,  simplicity,  and  tenderness,  of 
Tibullus. 


378  EOMAN   LITERATURE. 

Catullus  had  his  "Lesbia;"  Tibullus,  his  "Delia;"  and 
Propertius,  profiting  not  by  the  example  of  his  brother  bards, 
lavished  his  affections  on  the  accomplished  but  fickle  "  Cyn- 
thia," who  played  him  false  as  soon  as  a  rich  praetor  laid  a 
fortune  at  her  feet.  Cynthia  was  the  single  theme  of  our 
poet's  love-lays,  all  rapture  or  gentle  reproach.  In  an  elegy 
to  Maecenas,  who  had  pressed  him  to  attempt  an  epic,  he 
sings  : — 

"  You  ask  me  why  love-elegy  so  frequently  I  follow, 

And  why  my  little  book  of  tender  trifles  only  sings: 
It  is  not  from  Calliope,  iior  is  it  from  Apollo, 

But  from  my  own  sweet  lady-love  my  inspiration  springs. 

If  in  resplendent  purple  robe  of  Cos  my  darling  dresses, 
I'll  till  a  portly  volume  with  the  Coan  garments'  praise  ; 

Or  if  her  truant  tresses  wreathe  her  forehead  with  caresses, 
The  tresses  of  her  queenly  brow  demand  her  poet's  lays." 

In  another  elegy  he  describes  his  Cynthia's  charms : — 

"'Twas  not  her  face,  though  fair,  so  smote  my  eye 

(Less  fair  the  lily  than  my  love :  as  snows 
Of  Scythia  with  Iberian  vermeil  vie ; 
As  float  in  milk  the  petals  of  the  rose) ; 

Nor  locks  that  down  her  neck  of  ivory  stream, 

Nor  eyes — my  stars — twin  lamps  with  love  aglow; 

Nor,  if  in  silk  of  Araby  she  gleam 

(I  prize  not  baubles),  does  she  thrill  me  so, 

As  when  she  leaves  the  mantling  cup  to  thread 
The  mazy  dance,  and  moves  before  my  view, 

Graceful  as  blooming  Ariadne  led 

The  choral  revels  of  the  Bacchic  crew." 

The  death  of  Propertius  is  supposed  to  have  taken  place 
about  15  B  C.  Of  his  elegies,  there  is  none  better  than 

LOVE'S  DREAM  REALIZED. 

''Not  in  his  Dardan  triumph  so  rejoiced  the  great  Atrides, 

When  fell  the  mighty  kingdom  of  Laomedou  of  yore ; 
Not  so  Ulysses,  when  he  moored  his  wave-worn  raft  beside  his 
Beloved  Dulichian  island-home — his  weary  wanderings  o'er; 


OVID.  379 

As  I,  when  last  eve's  rosy  joys  I  ruminated  over: 

To  me  another  eve  like  that  were  immortality ! 
Awhile  before  with  downcast  head  I  walked  a  pining  lover — 

More  useless  I  had  grown,  'twas  said,  than  water-tank  run  dry. 

No  more  my  darling  passes  me  with  silent  recognition, 
Nor  can  she  sit  unmoved  while  I  outpour  my  tender  vow. 

I  wish  that  I  had  sooner  realized  this  blest  condition ; 
'Tis  pouring  living  water  on  a  dead  man's  ashes  now. 

In  vain  did  others  seek  my  love,  in  vain  they  called  upon  her, 
She  leaned  her  head  upon  my  breast,  was  kind  as  girl  could  be. 

Of  conquered  Parthiaus  talk  no  more,  I've  gained  a  nobler  honor, 
For  she'll  be  spoils,  and  leaders,  and  triumphal  car  to  me. 

Light  §f  my  life !  say,  shall  my  bark  reach  shore  with  gear  befitting, 
Or,  dashed  amid  the  breakers,  with  her  cargo  ruu  aground  ? 

With  thee  it  lies :  but  if,  perchance,  through  fault  of  my  committing, 
Thou  giv'st  me  o'er,  before  thy  door  let  my  cold  corse  be  found." 

CRAKSTOUN. 

Ovid  (43  B.C.-I7  A.D.).— Publius  Ovidius  Na'so,  the  last 
of  the  Augustan  poets,  was  a  knight  of  Sulmo,  an  ancient 
Samnite  town  in  the  eastern  part  of  Italy.  Designed  for  the 
legal  profession,  he  was  sent  to  Rome  to  be  educated ;  but 
the  writing  of  verses  was  more  congenial  than  rhetorical 
studies ;  and  an  eminent  critic  of  the  day,  on  hearing  one  of 
his  early  declamations,  described  it  as  "nothing  else  than 
poetry  out  of  metre." 

After  the  death  of  an  elder  son,  his  father  consented  that 
Publius  should  follow  the  bent  of  his  own  inclinations,  and 
the  poet  went  abroad  to  study  in  Greece  and  travel  in  Asia 
Minor.  Returning  to  Rome,  he  began  his  literary  career  as 
the  glory  of  the  Augustan  age  was  beginning  to  fade. 

For  twenty-two  years  Ovid  wasted  his  talents  on  the  com- 
position of  licentious  love-poems.  In  the  "Loves"  (Amo'res), 
the  earliest  of  his  works,  one  Corinna  is  addressed  through- 
out. The  hearty  reception  with  which  these  loose  songs  met 
at  Rome  is  a  sad  comment  on  the  degeneracy  of  the  pub- 
lic taste  and  morals.  They  were  followed  by  the  "Hero'- 

Q2 


380  ROMAN   LITERATURE. 

ides,"  a  collection  of  twenty-one  imaginary  love-letters,  in- 
scribed by  the  heroines  of  the  past  to  their  absent  or  unfaith- 
ful lords — an  original  idea  with  Ovid.  Penelope  indicts  an 
epistle  to  Ulysses,  Medea  to  Jason,  Sappho  to  Phaon,  etc. 
In  the  one  last  named,  translated  by  Pope,  the  Lesbian  poet- 
ess informs  the  youth  of  her  resolve  to  take  the  Lover's  Leap. 

"A  spring  there  is,  where  silver  waters  show, 
Clear  as  a  glass,  the  .shining  sands  below ; 
A  flowery  lotus  spreads  its  arms  above, 
Shades  all  the  banks,  and  seems  itself  a  grove : 
Eternal  greens  the  mossy  margin  grace, 
Watched  by  the  sylvan  genius  of  the  place. 
Here  as  I  lay,  and  swelled  with  tears  the  flood,       * 
Before  my  sight  a  watery  virgin  stood : 
She  stood  and  cried,  'O  yon  that  love  in  vain, 
Fly  hence,  and  seek  the  fair  Leucadian  main  ! 
There  stands  a  rock,  from  whose  impending  steep 
Apollo's  fane  surveys  the  rolling  deep  ; 
There  injured  lovers,  leaping  from  above, 
Their  flames  extinguish  and  forget  to  love. 
Hence,  Sappho,  haste!  from  high  Leucadia  throw 
Thy  wretched  weight,  nor  dread  the  deeps  below.' 
She  spoke,  and  vanished  with  the  voice — I  rise, 
And  silent  tears  fall  trickling  from  my  eyes. 
I  go,  ye  nymphs,  those  rocks  and  seas  to  prove  : 
And  much  I  fear  ;  but  ah  !  how  much  I  love ! 
To  rocks  and  seas  I  fly  from  Phaon's  hate, 
And  hope  from  seas  and  rocks  a  milder  fate." 

In  the  "  Art  of  Love,"  Ovid  again  overleaped  the  bounds 
of  propriety,  and  threw  so  brilliant  a  coloring  into  his  pictures 
of  vice  that  his  readers  were  fain  to  linger  over  them,  to  en- 
joy, and  to  admire,  with  manifest  danger  to  their  own  morals. 
When  even  a  daughter  of  the  imperial  line  was  corrupted 
by  them,  Augustus,  the  professed  defender  of  virtue,  felt 
that  it  was  time  to  stop  the  dissemination  of  such  principles, 
and  visited  the  poet  with  his  displeasure.  In  consequence 
of  a  subsequent  and  more  serious  offence,  in  some  way  con- 
nected with  the  royal  family,  but  the  nature  of  which  we  can 
only  conjecture,  Ovid  suddenly  received  notice  to  quit  the 


OVID'S  POETRY.  381 

capital  forever,  and  retire  to  To'mi,  a  dreary  and  desolate 
village  on  the  Black  Sea,  A.D.  9.  Despite  his  urgent  pray- 
ers, the  decree  of  banishment  was  never  revoked. 

The  works  of  his  eight  years'  exile  are  the  "  Tristia,"  or 
Sorrows,  "  Letters  from  Pontus,"  and  some  shorter  poems ; 
they  prove  his  genius  to  have  been  crushed,  his  spirit  broken. 
Tomi  gave  Ovid  a  grave ;  even  his  request  to  be  buried  in 
Italy  was  refused. 

The  best  of  Ovid's  works  were  the  "Fasti,"  or  Roman  Cal- 
endar, a  pleasant  almanac  in  verse,  and  the  "  Metamorphoses," 
ingenious  in  both  conception  and  expression.  While  engaged 
on  the  Fasti,  which  he  intended  to  complete  in  twelve  books, 
one  dedicated  to  each  month,  the  poet  was  surprised  by  the 
decree  of  banishment,  and  left  his  work  unfinished. 

The  Metamorphoses,  from  which  modern  writers  have  large- 
ly drawn,  gives  an  account  of  the  transformations  of  ancient 
mythology,  such  as  the  changing  of  lo  into  a  heifer,  Daphne 
into  a  laurel,  the  sisters  of  Phaeton  into  the  poplars  of  the  Po, 
and  Atlas  into  a  mountain  of  stone  by  the  gorgon-head  of 
Perseus.  One  of  the  prettiest  of  these  poems  relates  to  the 
metamorphosis  of  the  ivory  statue  wrought  by  Pygmalion,  into 
a  living  bride,  by  the  goddess  of  beauty,  in  answer  to  the 
sculptor's  prayer  : — 

PYGMALION'S  STATUE. 

"  The  sculptor  sought 

His  home,  and,  bending  o'er  the  couch  that  bore 
His  Maiden's  life-like  image,  to  her  lips 
Fond  pressed  his  own — and  lo !  her  lips  seemed  warm, 
And  warmer,  kissed  again  ;  and  dimpling  to  his  touch 
The  ivory  seems  to  yield, — as  in  the  sun. 
The  vraxen  labor  of  Hymettus'  bees, 
By  plastic  fingers  wrought,  to  various  shape 
And  use  by  use  is  fashioned.     Wonder-spelled, 
Scarce  daring  to  believe  his  bliss,  in  dread 
Lest  sense  deluded  mock  him,  on  the  form 
He  loves  again  and  yet  again  his  hand 
Lays  trembling  touch,  and  to  his  touch  a  pulse 


382  ROMAN    LITERATURE. 

Within  throbs  answering  palpable :  'twas  flesh! 
'Twas  very  life ! — Then  forth  iu  eloquent  flood 
His  grateful  heart  its  thanks  to  Venus  poured  ! 
The  lips  he  kissed  were  living  lips  that  felt 
His  passionate  pressure  ;  o'er  the  virgin  cheeks 
Stole  deepening  crimson ;  and  the  unclosing  eyes 
At  once  on  heaven  and  on  their  lover  looked !" 

HENRY  KING. 

With  the  death  of  Ovid,  the  flourishing  period  of  poetry  ter- 
minated. Among  his  contemporaries,  we  may  mention,  in 
passing,  the  epic  poets  ALBINOVA'NUS  author  of  the  These'id, 
and  CORNELIUS  SEVE'RUS,  who  wrote  an  heroic  on  the  war 
between  Augustus  and  Sextus  Pompey.  The  didactic  poets 
GRATIUS  and  MANILIUS  also  flourished  in  the  Augustan  age ; 
the  former  memorable  for  his  poem  on  hunting,  the  latter  for 
his  "  Astronomica." 

PROSE    WRITERS. 

Titus  Livius. — The  last  ornament  of  the  Augustan  Era  is 
the  historian  Livy,  born  at  Pata'vium  (now  Padua)  about  59 
B.C. — the  scion  of  a  noble  line  that  had  figured  proudly  in  the 
annals  of  the  Republic.  His  was  the  uneventful  life  of  the 
scholar,  and  few  particulars  of  his  biography  have  therefore 
been  preserved.  He  appears  to  have  begun  his  career  as  a 
rhetorician;  to  have  come  to  the  capital  about  B.C.  31,  for 
what  precise  purpose  we  cannot  say,  and  there  to  have  gained 
a  ready  introduction  at  court.  The  emperor,  already  favora- 
bly impressed  with  his  ability,  is  said  to  have  placed  at  his 
disposal  a  suite  of  rooms  in  the  palace. 

Perhaps,  as  his  importunities  made  the  reluctant  Virgil  the 
great  epic  poet  of  Rome,  so  Augustus  may  have  stirred  the 
ambition  of  Livy  to  become  its  historian ;  whether  he  did  or 
not,  we  find  the  rhetorician  of  Patavium,  soon  after  taking  up 
his  abode  at  the  imperial  city,  entering  upon  the  composition 
of  his  "Annals,"  a  work  which  progressed  simultaneously  with 
the  ^Eneid.  As  the  different  decades  (divisions  often  books) 


LIVY.  383 

were  completed,  the  author,  after  first  reading  them  to  Augus- 
tus and  Maecenas,  published  them  for  the  perusal  of  his  coun- 
trymen. They  at  once  made  his  reputation,  and  became  the 
received  authority  on  the  national  history,  raising  Livy  during 
his  lifetime,  as  at  the  present  day,  to  the  rank  of  the  most  dis- 
tinguished historians.  The  estimation  in  which  they  were 
held  may  be  inferred  from  the  story  of  Pliny — that  a  citizen 
of  Cadiz  came  all  the  way  to  Italy  merely  to  see  the  great 
writer  the  whole  Roman  world  was  talking  about. 

For  forty  years  Livy  labored  on  his  history.  At  the  time 
of  his  death,  which  took  place  in  his  native  town,  17  A.D.,  he 
had  finished  142  books,  covering  nearly  seven  and  a  half  cen- 
turies from  the  founding  of  Rome.  It  is  supposed  that  he 
intended  to  add  eight  more,  embracing  the  entire  reign  of 
Augustus.  Only  thirty-five  of  the  original  books  have  been 
recovered. 

The  loss  of  the  decades  relating  to  the  civil  wars  is  much 
to  be  deplored,  and  it  has  ever  been  the  hope  of  scholars  that 
some  day  the  missing  parts  would  be  found.  Several  times 
has  the  literary  world  been  thrown  into  excitement  by  false 
rumors  of  their  discovery.  Once,  we  are  told,  a  learned  man 
detected  in  the  parchment  covering  of  a  battledoor  with  which 
he  was  playing  a  page  of  the  favorite  historian ;  but  on  has- 
tening to  the  maker  of  the  toy,  to  rescue  the  prized  manuscript 
to  which  it  had  belonged,  he  found  that  all  had  been  utilized 
in  a  similar  manner.  A  meagre  synopsis  of  the  books  that 
have  perished,  serves  only  to  make  us  regret  their  loss  the 
more  keenly. 

Livy's  "  Annals "  is  a  model  of  elegant  historical  writing, 
and  a  repertory  of  tales  and  traditions  of  early  heroism,  which 
have  made  Roman  virtue  and  prowess  the  admiration  of  the 
world  ;  yet  his  statements  must  be  taken  with  many  grains  of 
allowance.  Not  that  he  wilfully  misrepresented,  but  rather 
that  he  trusted  too  implicitly  authorities  of  doubtful  veracity, 


384  ROMAN   LITERATURE. 

and  shrunk  from  the  labor  of  thorough  original  investigation. 
Moreover,  a  vein  of  exaggeration  runs  through  his  pages.  It 
was  doubtless  his  intention  to  be  impartial ;  but  carried  away 
by  a  natural  bias,  he  was  too  ready  to  color  or  cover  over  the 
blots  on  his  country's  escutcheon.  That  he  stooped  not  to 
curry  favor  with  his  superiors  is  evident  from  the  epithet  ap- 
plied to  him  by  Augustus — "the  Pompeyite" — by  reason  of 
his  warm  praises  of  Caesar's  rival.  Ignorance  of  geography, 
military  science,  and  even  of  the  constitutional  development 
of  Rome,  is  conspicuous  in  his  narrative. 

As  an  artist,  however,  Livy  was  great.  He  excels  in  de- 
picting character,  whether  directly  by  description,  or  indirect- 
ly in  the  actions  or  utterances  of  the  old  Roman  worthies. 
Hence,  artificial  as  they  are  and  often  smelling  of  the  rhetori- 
cian's lamp,  the  speeches  which  Livy  puts  in  the  mouths  of  his 
different  personages  display  his  genius  to  advantage.  One  of 
the  finest,  given  below,  is  that  of  the  old  Horatius,  pleading 
with  the  people  for  the  life  of  his  son.  According  to  the  le- 
gend, in  a  war  between  Rome  and  Alba  Longa,  it  was  agreed 
by  the  contending  parties,  to  save  unnecessary  bloodshed,  that 
the  question  at  issue  should  be  decided  by  a  hand-to-hand 
conflict  between  three  champions  on  each  side, — the  brothers 
Horatii  for  Rome,  the  Curiatii  for  Alba.  All  fell  save  one 
Horatius.  We  leave  the  conclusion  of  the  story  to  Livy  : — 

THE  CRIME  AND  PUNISHMENT  OF  HORATIUS. 

"  Horatius  advanced  at  the  head  of  the  Romans,  bearing  in  triumph 
the  spoils  of  the  three  brothers.  Near  the  gate  Capena  he  was  met 
by  his  sister,  a  maiden  who  had  been  betrothed  to  one  of  the  Curia- 
tii ;  observing  on  her  brother's  shoulder  the  military  robe  of  her 
lover,  made  by  her  own  hands,  she  tore  her  hair,  and  with  loud  and 
mournful  outcries  called  on  the  name  of  the  deceased.  His  sister's 
lamentations,  in  the  midst  of  his  own  triumph  and  of  so  great  public 
joy,  irritated  the  fierce  youth  to  such  a  degree  that,  drawing  his 
sword,  he  plunged  it  into  her  breast,  at  the  same  time  upbraiding  her 
in  these  words :  '  Begone  to  thy  spouse  with  thy  unseasonable  love, 
since  thou  could st  forget  what  is  due  to  the  memory  of  thy  deceased 


EXTRACT   FROM   LIVY.  385 

brothers,  to  him  who  still  survives,  and  to  thy  native  country ;  60 
perish  every  daughter  of  Koine  that  shall  mourn  for  its  enemy  !' 

Both  the  senate  and  people  were  shocked  at  the  horrid  deed ;  but 
still,  in  their  opinion,  his  recent  merit  outweighed  its  guilt :  he  was, 
however,  instautly  carried  before  the  king  for  judgment.  The  king, 
unwilling  to  take  on  himself  a  decision  of  so  melancholy  a  nature, 
summoned  au  assembly  of  the  people,  and  then  said :  '  I  appoint  two 
commissioners  to  pass  judgment  on  Horatius  for  murder,  according 
to  the  law.'  The  law  was  of  dreadful  import :  '  Let  two  commission- 
ers pass  judgment  for  murder;  if  the  accused  appeal  from  the  com- 
missioners, let  the  appeal  be  tried;  if  their  seuteuce  be  confirmed, 
cover  his  head,  hang  him  by  a  rope  on  the  gallows,  let  him  be  scourged 
either  within  the  Pomceriuni*  or  without  the  Pomoerium.' 

The  two  commissioners  appoiuted  were  of  opinion  that,  according 
to  this  law,  they  were  not  authorized  to  acquit  him  ;  and,  after  they 
had  found  him  guilty,  one  of  them  pronounced  judgment  in  these 
words  :  '  Publius  Horatius,  I  sentence  thee  to  punishment  as  a  mur- 
derer; go,  lictor,  bind  his  hands.'  The  lictor  had  come  up  to  him, 
and  was  fixing  the  cord,  when  Horatius,  by  the  advice  of  Tullus,  who 
wished  to  give  the  mildest  interpretation  to  the  law,  said,  'I  appeal ;' 
so  the  trial  on  the  appeal  came  before  the  Commons. 

During  this  trial,  the  people  were  very  deeply  affected,  especially 
by  the  behavior  of  Publius  Horatius,  the  father,  who  declared  that 
'  in  his  judgment  his  daughter  was  deservedly  put  to  death  ;  had  it 
not  been  so,  he  would,  by  his  own  authority  as  a  father,  have  inflict- 
ed punishment  on  his  son.'  He  then  besought  them  that  'they 
would  not  leave  him  childless,  whom  they  had  beheld,  but  a  few 
hours  ago,  surrounded  by  a  progeny  of  uncommon  merit.'  Uttering 
these  words,  the  old  man  embraced  the  youth,  and  pointing  to  the 
spoils  of  the  Cnriatii,  which  were  hung  up  in  the  place  where  now 
stands  the  Horatiaii  column,  exclaimed : — 

'O  my  fellow -citizens!  can  you  bear  to  behold  him  laden  with 
chains,  and  condemned  to  ignominy,  stripes,  and  torture,  whom  but 
just  now  you  saw  covered  with  the  ornaments  of  victory,  marching 
in  triumph — a  sight  so  horrid  that  scarcely  could  the  eyes  of  the  Al- 
bans  themselves  endure  it?  Go,  lictor,  bind  the  arms  which  but 
now  wielded  those  weapons  that  acquired  dominion  to  the  Roman 
people  ;  cover  the  head  of  that  man  to  whom  your  city  owes  its  lib- 
erty ;  hang  him  upon  the  gallows.  Scourge  him  within  the  Pomce- 
rium ;  but  do  it  between  those  pillars  to  which  are  suspended  the 
trophies  of  his  victory.  Scourge  him  without  the  Pomoerium ;  but 
do  it  between  the  graves  of  the  Curiatii.  For  to  what  place  can  ye 
lead  this  youth,  where  the  monuments  of  his  glory  would  not  re- 
deem him  from  the  ignominy  of  such  a  punishment  ?' 

The  people  could  not  withstand  either  the  tears  of  the  father,  or 


*  A  consecrated  ground  in  ancient  Rome,  on  which  it  was  unlawful  to  build. 


386  K03IAN   LITERATURE. 

the  intrepid  spirit  of  the  youth  himself,  which  no  kind  of  danger 
could  appall ;  and*  rather  out  of  admiration  of  his  bravery  than  re- 
gard to  the  justice  of  his  cause,  they  passed  a  sentence  of  acquittal. 
Wherefore,  that  some  expiation  might  be  made  for  the  act  of  mani- 
fest murder,  the  father  was  ordered  to  make  atonement  for  his  son 
at  the  public  expense.  After  performing  expiatory  sacrifices,  which 
continued  afterward  to  be  celebrated  by  the  Horatiau  family,  he  laid 
a  beam  across  the  street,  and,  covering  the  young  man's  head,  made 
him  pass,  as  it  were,  under  the  yoke.  The  beam  remains  to  this 
day,  being  constantly  kept  iu  repair  at  the  expense  of  the  public, 
and  is  called  the  Sister's  beam.  A  tomb  of  squared  stone  was  raised 
for  Horatia  ou  the  spot  where  she  fell." — BAKER. 

In  addition  to  the  "  Annals  of  Rome,"  Livy  also  wrote  his- 
torical and  philosophical  dialogues,  which  we  know  only  by 
name. 

Pompeius  Trogus,  contemporary  with  Livy,  produced  a  his- 
tory of  the  world,  extending  from  the  founding  of  Nineveh  to 
the  Christian  Era.  Macedonia  fills  an  important  place  in  this 
work,  an  abridgment  of  which  is  still  in  existence. 

A  prominent  rhetorician  of  the  Augustan  period  was  the 
elder  SENECA,  of  Cordova,  in  Spain.  Portions  of  his  works 
(which  consist  of  rhetorical  exercises  on  imaginary  cases, 
historical  events,  and  circumstances  in  the  lives  of  great 
men,  written  for  the  benefit  of  his  sons)  have  survived ;  but 
nothing  remains  of  a  history  of  Rome  ascribed  to  him. 

The  orators  MESSALA  and  ASINIUS  POLLIO  graced  the  early 
years  of  the  first  emperor's  reign ;  but,  when  political  elo- 
quence was  interdicted,  they  retired  to  private  life, — Pollio, 
to  win  new  laurels  by  his  tragedies  and  other  literary  compo- 
sitions. Both  were  patrons  of  literature,  and  loved  to  gather 
round  them  the  eminent  poets  of  their  day.  Messala's  ora- 
tions, known  to  us  only  by  a  few  fragments  that  remain,  were 
regarded  as  almost  equal  to  Cicero's ;  while  Pollio,  none  of 
whose  works  have  been  preserved,  was  ranked  by  his  contem- 
poraries with  Cicero  as  an  orator,  with  Virgil  as  a  poet,  and 
with  Sallust  as  an  historian. 


EDUCATION  AMONG  THE  ROMANS. 


387 


MINOR    POETS    AND    PROSE    WRITERS. 


HELVIUS  CINNA  (50  B.C.) :  author  of 
the  lost  epic  "  Smyrna,"  the  fruit  of 
nine  years'  labor.  In  one  of  his  Ec- 
logues, Virgil  compared  himself  in 
the  company  of  Cinna  and  his  friend 
Varius  to  a  goose  among  swans. 

LICIXIUS  CALVUS  (82-47  B.C.):  poet 
and  orator;  elegies,  epigrams,  and 
love-songs  in  the  style  of  Catullus; 
an  epic  "  lo ;"  no  remains. 

VALGIUS  RUFUS,  a  friend  of  Horace : 
an  epic  and  elegiac  poet. 

GALLUS  :  a  noted  jurist. 


TU'BERO  (48  B.C.)  the  historian:  con- 
temporary with  Sallust. 

VERKIUS  FLACCUS  :  a  renowned  gram- 
marian; author  of  a  voluminous  Lat- 
in lexicon,  which  is  lost.  His  work 
was  subsequently  condensed  into 
twenty  volumes. 

VITRUVIUS  POLLIO,  the  great  architect 
of  the  Augustan  Era :  he  prepared  a 
comprehensive  work  on  the  science 
of  architecture,  long  received  as  au- 
thority. 

TITUS  LABIE'NUS  :  an  orator  and  his- 
torian. 


NOTES  ON  EDUCATION,  ETC.,  AMONG  THE  ROMANS. 

Education  never  compulsory,  as  in  Greece.  Its  chief  aim  in  early  times  to 
make  warriors  and  statesmen.  Children  usually  grounded  in  the  rudiments  by 
their  mother,  the  father  occasionally  doing  service  as  a  teacher  of  reading  and 
writing.  From  the  Greeks,  the  Romans  adopted  the  custom  of  employing  pceda- 
goyi  to  instruct  their  children  or  accompany  them  to  and  from  school. 

Private  schools  in  Rome  about  450  B.C. ;  Virginia  insulted  by  Appius  Clau- 
dius, while  on  her  way  to  school.  The  youth  instructed  at  these  institutions  in 
reading,  writing,  and  arithmetic,  and  required  to  memorize  the  laws  of  the  Twelve 
Tables.  Grammar  was  next  essayed ;  and  a  course  in  rhetoric  and  oratory  com- 
pleted the  Roman  boy's  education.  Many  continued  their  studies  at  Athens, 
Rhodes,  or  Alexandria. 

The  teachers  often  provincials  or  freedmen.  In  the  golden  age,  Greek  tutors 
very  generally  the  companions  and  flatterers  of  the  wealthy  Romans.  During 
the  reign  of  Augustus,  great  schools  at  Cordova  and  Marseilles  rivalled  the 
academy  of  Flaccus  at  Rome,  the  favorite  of  the  emperor,  who  paid  Flaccus  a 
salary  of  $3,600,  and  offered  special  inducements  in  the  way  of  prizes  to  such  as 
would  join  his  school.  Under  Vespasian  the  first  Roman  college,  the  Athenaeum, 
was  established;  botany,  zoology,  and  mineralogy,  now  became  favorite  studies. 

Rome  had  its  booksellers  in  the  golden  age,  to  supply  the  demand  for  standard 
authors  and  school  manuals.  Books  multiplied  rapidly  by  transcription,  and 
•were  cheap  in  proportion.  At  the  beginning  of  the  first  century  B.C.,  many 
private  libraries  in  Rome;  every  noble  took  pride  in  his  collection  of  manu- 
scripts. First  public  library  founded  by  Asinius  Pollio,  whose  example  was 
followed  by  others. 


388  ROMAN   LITERATURE. 

Earliest  known  attempts  at  journalism,  59  B.C.  The  Ada  of  the  senate  and 
of  the  people,  the  first  publications.  The  latter,  a  daily  (diurna,  whence  jour- 
nal), had  an  extensive  circulation  throughout  the  Roman  territories.  Stenog- 
raphy practised  at  this  time  by  the  Romans,  and  subsequently  taught  in  their 
schools.  Cicero  said  to  have  been  the  inventor  of  their  system  of  short-hand. 
Sympathetic  ink  in  use  for  writing  love-letters  and  secret  correspondence.  For 
this  purpose  Ovid  recommends  milk,  which  may  be  made  visible  by  dusting  pow- 
dered charcoal  on  the  letters.  To  keep  mice  from  gnawing  their  papyrus  and 
parchment  rolls,  some  Roman  writers  mixed  wormwood  with  their  inks. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

AGE    OF    DECLINE. 

Silver  Age  of  Roman  Letters. — With  the  death  of  Augustus 
and  the  accession  of  his  step-son  Tiberius,  despotism  in  its 
worst  form  was  established  at  Rome,  and,  as  in  Greece,  a  de- 
cline of  letters  immediately  followed.  Symptoms  of  literary 
decay  had  already  shown  themselves  in  the  reign  of  the  first 
emperor,  although  he  took  care  to  conceal  his  assumption  of 
absolute  power  under  the  mask  of  republican  forms,  and  was 
known  to  all  as  a  patron  of  learning.  Tiberius,  on  the  con- 
trary, openly  declared  himself  the  enemy  of  freedom,  both 
political  and  intellectual;  and  when,  in  37  A.D.,  his  attend- 
ants, no  longer  able  to  endure  his  rule  of  blood,  smothered 
the  monster  with  pillows,  Latin  literature  was  at  its  lowest  ebb. 

A  brief  renaissance,  however,  succeeded  ;  so  that  the  impe- 
rial fiend  Nero  was  able  to  number  among  his  victims  an  epic 
poet,  Lucan,  and  a  philosopher  and  dramatist  of  no  common 
stamp,  Seneca.  Under  the  Caesars,  genius  was  hopelessly 
fettered ;  a  chance  word  might  condemn  its  author  to  the 
headsman  ;  the  poet,  the  historian,  the  orator,  must  needs 
suppress  his  sentiments  or  forfeit  his  self-respect  by  flattering 
the  reigning  despot. 


PERIOD    OF   DECLINE.  389 

A  brighter  day  dawned  with  the  mild  rule  of  Nerva,  Tra- 
jan, Hadrian,  and  the  Antonines  (96-180  A.D.).  During  this 
golden  age  of  the  Roman  empire,  poetry  for  a  time  recov- 
ered its  vitality,  and  through  the  stinging  satires  of  Juvenal 
denounced  the  abuses  that  had  prevailed  in  the  days  of  Nero 
and  Domitian;  while  in  the  histories  of  Tacitus,  prose  indig- 
nantly broke  its  enforced  silence,  and  held  up  to  public  de- 
testation the  despots  of  the  past.  But  this  revival  was  short- 
lived. Latin  literature  rapidly  degenerated,  for  Latin  genius 
was  no  more.  In  the  later  centuries  of  the  empire,  science 
and  jurisprudence  alone  flourished  on  the  soil  where  poetry 
had  now  ceased  to  bloom. 

ERA    OF   THE    CAESARS    (14-90  A.D.). 

In  the  reign  of  Tiberius,  we  meet  with  the  names  of  Vel- 
leius  Paterculus,  the  court  historian  ;  Celsus,  the  scientist ; 
and  Phasdrus. 

Velleius  Paterculus  is  memorable  for  his  epitome  of  Ro- 
man history,  a  work  in  other  respects  meritorious,  but  marred 
by  its  author's  servile  praise  of  Tiberius.  Yet  we  must  re- 
member that  Velleius  was  not  permitted  to  see  the  worst 
phase  of  this  emperor's  tyranny.  When  the  treachery  of  the 
prime  minister  Seja'nus  was  exposed,  the  historian,  though 
not  implicated  with  him,  was  one  of  the  first  to  be  put  to 
death.  He  was  thus  prevented  from  witnessing  the  murders 
of  hundreds  of  other  innocent  persons — atrocities  that  might 
have  altered  his  estimate  of  his  ungrateful  master. 

Valerius  Maximus,  his  contemporary  and  fellow -flatterer, 
prepared  a  cyclopaedia  of  anecdotes  gleaned  from  the  history 
of  Rome  and  foreign  countries,  entitled  "Remarkable  Deeds 
and  Sayings."  It  was  designed  for  the  use  of  persons  who 
had  not  the  time  or  inclination  to  make  original  investiga- 
tions, and,  though  written  in  an  artificial  style,  contains  much 
that  is  interesting. 


390  ROMAN   LITERATURE. 

Celsus  was  the  author  of  a  scientific  encyclopaedia,  whose 
twenty  books  were  devoted  to  farming,  medicine,  rhetoric, 
jurisprudence,  and  military  tactics.  The  eight  books  on  med- 
icine still  survive,  constituting  the  great  Roman  authority  on 
that  subject. 

Before  his  day  the  art  of  medicine  and  surgery  had  been 
almost  entirely  confined  to  Greek  physicians ;  but  Celsus 
dignified  it  as  a  calling  worthy  of  Romans,  not  only  practis- 
ing with  success  among  his  countrymen,  but  committing  to 
writing  the  results  of  his  experience.  He  was  the  first  an- 
cient author  who  recommended  the  tying  of  blood-vessels  for 
the  purpose  of  checking  hemorrhage. 

Phaedrus,  the  only  noteworthy  poet  of  Tiberius's  reign,  is 
known  to  us  by  his  fables.  Of  his  life,  we  have  few  facts.  He 
is  supposed  to  have  been  brought  from  Thrace  to  Rome,  as  a 
captive ;  and  to  have  lived  there  as  the  slave  of  Augustus, 
who,  recognizing  his  latent  talent,  gave  him  an  education  and 
finally  his  freedom. 

In  the  sunshine  of  his  patron's  smiles,  Phaeclrus  led  a  hap- 
py life  ;  but  on  the  death  of  Augustus  he  was  exposed  to  the 
persecutions  of  Sejanus,  who  virtually  controlled  the  state 
under  the  succeeding  emperor,  and  who  affected  to  see  in  the 
poet's  fables  masked  attacks  upon  his  own  vicious  career. 
Phaedrus,  however,  outlived  all  his  enemies,  and  died  at  a 
good  old  age. 

The  fables  of  Phaedrus,  preserved  in  a  single  manuscript, 
were  discovered  in  an  abbey  at  Rheims  (1561),  and,  after 
narrowly  escaping  destruction  at  the  hands  of  some  French 
fanatics,  were  published  to  the  world.  In  the  main  trans- 
lated or  imitated  from  ^Esop,  whom  their  author  thus  made 
known  to  the  Romans,  they  commend  themselves  for  their 
conciseness  and  simplicity,  as  well  as  for  the  moral  lessons 
they  convey.  His  "pleasant  tales  "  may  be  judged  of  by  the 
following  specimens : — 


FABLES    OF    PH^EDKUS.  391 


THE  FOX  AND  THE  GOAT. 

"A  crafty  knave  will  make  escape, 
Wheii  once  he  gets  into  a  scrape, 
Still  meditating  self-defence, 
At  any  other  man's  expense. 
A  fox  by  some  disaster  fell 
Into  a  deep  and  fenced  well : 
A  thirsty  goat  came  down  in  haste, 
And  asked  about  the  water's  taste, 
If  it  was  plentiful  and  sweet? 
At  which  the  fox,  in  rank  deceit : — 
'  So  great  the  solace  of  the  run, 
I  thought  I  never  should  have  done. 
Be  quick,  my  friend,  your  sorrows  drown.' 
This  said,  the  silly  goat  comes  down. 
The  subtle  fox  herself  avails, 
And  by  his  horns  the  height  she  scales, 
And  leaves  the  goat  in  all  the  mire, 
To  gratify  his  heart's  desire." 


THE  BALD  MAN  AND  THE  FLY. 

"  As  on  his  head  she  chanced  to  sit, 
A  man's  bald  pate  a  gadfly  bit ; 
He,  prompt  to  crush  the  little  foe, 
Dealt  on  himself  a  grievous  blow. 
At  which  the  fly,  deriding,  said : — 

'  You  who  would  strike  an  insect  dead 
For  one  slight  sting,  in  wrath  so  strict, 
What  punishment  will  you  inflict 
Upon  yourself,  whose  heavy  arm, 
Not  my  poor  bite,  did  all  the  harm  ?' 

'  Oh !'  says  the  party, '  as  for  me, 
I  with  myself  can  soon  agree; 
The  intention  of  the  act  is  all. 
But  thou,  detested  cannibal ! 
Bloodsucker !  to  have  thee  secured, 
More  would  I  gladly  have  endured.' 

What  by  this  moral  tale  is  meant 
Is,  those  who  wrong  not  with  intent 
Are  venial ;  but  to  those  that  do, 
Severity  is  surely  due."— CHRISTOPHER  SMART. 

The  three  great  ornaments  of  Nero's  reign  (54-68  A.D.) 
were  Persius  the  satirist,  Seneca,  and  his  nephew  Lucan. 


392  ROMAN   LITERATURE. 

Persius. — Born  at  the  Etruscan  town  of  Volaterrae  (34  A.D.), 
Persius  was  brought  to  Rome  by  his  mother  at  the  age  of 
twelve,  and  there  educated.  In  the  Stoic,  Cornu'tus,  he  found 
his  ideal  preceptor,  and  to  this  "best  of  friends"  the  poet 
pays  a  beautiful  tribute  in  the  following  verses,  among  the 
finest  he  ever  wrote  : — 

"When  first  I  laid  the  purple*  by,  and  free, 
Yet  trembling  at  my  new-felt  liberty, 
Approached  the  hearth,  and  on  the  Lares  hung 
The  bulla,  from  my  willing  neck  unstrung ; 
When  gay  associates,  sporting  at  my  side, 
And  the  white  boss,  displayed  with  conscious  pride, 
Gave  me,  unchecked,  the  haunts  of  vice  to  trace, 
And  throw  my  wandering  eyes  on  every  face, 
I  fled  to  you,  Cornutus,  pleased  to  rest 
My  hopes  and  fears  on  your  Socratic  breast ; 
Nor  did  you,  gentle  sage,  the  charge  decline. 
Then,  dextrous  to  beguile,  your  steady  line 
Reclaimed,  I  know  not  by  what  winning  force, 
My  morals,  warped  from  virtue's  straighter  course. 

Can  I  forget  how  many  a  summer's  day, 
Spent  in  your  converse,  stole  unmarked  away  ? 
Or  how,  while  listening  with  increased  delight, 
I  snatched  from  feasts  the  earlier  hours  of  night? 
One  time  (for  to  your  bosom  still  I -grew), 
One  time  of  study  and  of  rest  we  knew ; 
One  frugal  board  where,  every  care  resigned, 
An  hour  of  blameless  mirth  relaxed  the  mind." — GIFFORD. 

Death  overtook  our  poet  in  his  28th  year  (62  A.D.).  All 
we  have  of  his  writings  is  six  satires  —  only  650  hexameter 
lines.  After  his  death  these  were  published,  and  elicited  un- 
bounded admiration.  Other  works  of  his  were  torn  up  by  his 
mother,  who  deemed  them  unworthy  of  his  genius.  Persius 
bequeathed  to  Conjiitus  his  library  of  700  manuscripts. 

The  satires  of  Persius  were  written  in  the  interest  of  moral- 
ity, and  what  gave  them  weight  was  that  all  knew  their  author 


*  An  allusion  to  the  change  from  the  purple-bordered  toga  of  the  youth,  to  the 
toga  virilis,  or  manly  robe. 


PEKSIUS.  393 

to  be  a  man  who  practised  the  virtue  he  commended,  a  man 
of  stainless  character  in  an  age  of  universal  licentiousness. 
And  yet  we  do  not  find  him  lashing  vice  as  we  should  expect. 
Was  he  loath  to  do  so,  lest  the  very  pictures  he  must  draw 
might  corrupt?  Or,  was  Persius  forced  to  hold  his  peace  in 
the  presence  of  a  despot  who  revelled  in  the  vilest  excesses, 
whose  policy  it  was  to  reduce  his  subjects  to  his  own  low 
level  ?  Perhaps  for  both  reasons  he  preferred  to  assail  wick- 
edness in  the  abstract.  Certainly  his  "  maidenly  modesty  " 
shrunk  from  portraying  the  hideous  sins  that  flaunted  around 
him,  while  his  philosophical  tenets  inclined  him  to  keep  aloof 
from  the  world. 

Poetasters  and  pedants  that  pandered  to  the  perverted 
taste  of  the  day,  received  the  brunt  of  his  attack  in  his  First 
Satire.  The  Second  discusses  the  proper  subjects  of  prayer. 
How  few,  says  the  poet,  would  be  willing  to  have  their  peti- 
tions made  public: — 

"  Hard,  bard  the  task,  from  the  low  muttered  prayer 
To  free  the  fanes ;  or  find  one  suppliant  there, 
Who  dares  to  ask  but  what  his  state  requires, 
And  live  to  heaven  and  earth  with  known  desires ! 

Sound  sense,  integrity,  a  conscience  clear, 
Are  begged  aloud,  that  all  at  hand  may  hear ; 
But  prayers  like  these  (half  whispered,  half  suppressed) 
The  tongue  scarce  hazards  from  the  conscious  breast : — 
'  0  that  I  could  my  rich  old  uncle  see 
In  funeral  pomp !' — '  O  that  some  deity 
To  pots  of  buried  gold  would  guide  my  share !' — 
'  O  that  my  ward,  whom  I  succeed  as  heir, 
Were  once  at  rest !  poor  child,  he  lives  in  pain, 
And  death  to  him  must  be  accounted  gain.' — 
'  By  wedlock  thrice  has  Nerius  swelled  his  store, 
And  now — is  he  a  widower  once  more.!' ", 

*-** 

The  Second  Satire  concludes  with  these  noble  lines  : — • 

"  No ;  let  me  bring  the  immortal  gods  a  mind, 
Where  legal  and  where  moral  sense  are  joined 
With  the  pure  essence ;  holy  thoughts,  that  dwell 
In  the  soul's  most  retired  and  sacred  cell ; 


394  ROMAN   LITERATUKE. 

A  bosom  dyed  in  honor's  noblest  grain, 
Deep-dyed — with  these  let  me  approach  the  fane, 
And  Heaven  will  hear  the  humble  prayer  I  make, 
Though  all  my  offering  be  a  barley-cake." — GIFFORD. 

Lucius  Annseus  Seneca,  son  of  the  rhetorician,  was  born  at 
Cordova  B.C.  7,  but  received  his  education  at  Rome  under 
the  supervision  of  his  father.  From  the  first  he  displayed 
great  interest  in  his  studies,  and  as  he  grew  in  years  he  in- 
dulged his  natural  bent  for  philosophical  researches.  So 
thorough  a  Pythagorean  did  he  become  that  he  even  es- 
chewed animal  food,  lest  he  should  devour  flesh  that  had 
once  been  animated  by  a  human  soul.  On  the  remonstrance 
of  his  parent,  however,  he  renounced  vegetarianism  and  "  lived 
as  others  lived  "  again.  At  a  later  period  we  find  him  the 
leader  of  the  Stoics  at  Rome. 

Seneca  early  made  his  mark  as  an  orator.  Hearing  him 
plead  eloquently  on  one  occasion  in  the  senate,  Caligula,  out 
of  jealousy,  threatened  to  have  him  executed,  and  was  de- 
terred only  by  the  consideration  that  Seneca  had  the  con- 
sumption and  was  not  likely  to  live  for  any  length  of  time. 

But  Seneca  survived  this  imperial  butcher,  to  become  the 
instructor  and  moral  guide  of  the  youthful  Nero.  While 
Nero  submitted  to  his  counsels,  Rome  enjoyed  a  halcyon  age, 
long  remembered  by  her  people  as  the  Five  Years.  His  in- 
fluence led  to  the  adoption  of  many  salutary  measures ;  it  is 
thought  to  have  been  at  his  instigation  that  Nero  despatched 
an  expedition  to  explore  the  sources  of  the  Nile — the  first  re- 
corded in  history.  Well  would  it  have  been  for  Rome,  had 
Nero  continued  to  follow  the  advice  of  Seneca. 

This,  however,  was  not  to  be  ;  a  sudden  change  took  place 
in  the  disposition  of  the  prince,  when  his  mother  was  charged 
with  conspiring  against  him.  It  was  her  life  or  his  ;  and 
Nero  won.  The  taste  of  blood  transformed  him  into  a  mon- 
ster, and  he  forthwith  entered  upon  a  reign  of  horrors  that 


SENECA,  THE   MORALIST.  395 

has  no  equal  in  history.  Virtue  was  now  the  surest  road  to 
ruin.  Falsely  accused  of  complicity  in  a  conspiracy,  Seneca 
was  sentenced  to  put  an  end  to  his  own  life  (65  A.D.).  With 
perfect  calmness  he  received  the  royal  mandate,  and  caused 
his  veins  to  be  severed ;  but  the  blood  flowing  too  slowly,  he 
entered  a  vapor-bath  and  ended  his  sufferings  by  suffocation. 
His  wife  Paulina  elected  to  die  with  him,  and  in  the  same 
manner ;  but  Nero  had  her  veins  ligatured,  and  thus  added 
several  years  of  misery  to  her  life.  To  his  friends,  Seneca 
was  permitted  to  leave  no  more  valuable  legacy  than  his  vir- 
tuous example. 

Seneca  was  a  great  moral  leader,  the  first  of  a  class  of  phi- 
losophers who  aimed  at  winning  the  people  back  to  the  virtue 
of  primitive  Rome.  His  teachings  were  in  strange  contrast 
to  the  age  in  which  he  lived;  they  bear  a  striking  resem- 
blance to  those  of  the  Gospel,  with  which  he  may  have 
become  acquainted  through  St.  Paul.  The  fathers  of  the 
Church  were  loud  in  their  praises  of  "the  divine  pagan," 
but  there  is  no  evidence  that,  as  some  have  stated,  Seneca 
was  persuaded  by  the  apostle  to  become  a  Christian. 

Our  philosopher  is  described  as  simple  in  his  tastes. 
Though  the  envied  possessor  of  a  princely  fortune,  he  could 
consistently  write  in  support  of  temperance  on  his  table  of 
gold.  A  cupful  of  water  from  the  brook  was  sweeter  to  him 
than  beakers  of  Italy's  choicest  wines,  and  the  fruits  of  the 
wild  wood  he  preferred  to  the  luxurious  dishes  fashion  re- 
quired him  to  spread  before  the  rich  and  great.  His  fault 
was  weakness,  which  betrayed  him  into  flattery,  and  perhaps 
made  him  an  unwilling  accessory  to  some  of  his  master's 
crimes. 

Seneca  was  the  author,  not  only  of  philosophical  treatises, 
but  also  of  ten  tragedies,  and  one  hundred  and  twenty-four 
moral  epistles.  He  even  attempted  a  satire  on  the  stupidity 
of  the  emperor  Claudius,  representing  him  as  transformed 


396  KOMAN   LITEKATURE. 

after  death,  not  into  a  god,  as  the  senate  decreed,  but  into  a 
pumpkin.     Several  other  works  from  his  pen  are  lost. 

The  best  of  Seneca's  treatises  are  those  on  Anger,  Provi- 
dence, and  Consolation.  His  style,  labored,  antithetical,  and 
full  of  repetitions,  has  an  artificial  glitter  about  it  that  im- 
presses the  reader  unfavorably. 

EXTKACTS  FROM  SENECA'S  WRITINGS. 
ON 


"  How  idle  are  many  of  those  things  that  make  us  stark  mad  !  A 
resty  horse,  the  overturning  of  a  glass,  the  falling  of  a  key,  the  drag- 
ging of  a  chair,  a  jealousy,  a  misconstruction.  How  shall  that  man 
endure  the  extremities  of  hunger  and  thirst,  that  flies  into  a  rage  only 
for  the  putting  of  a  little  too  much  water  in  his  wine  ?  What  haste 
is  there  to  lay  a  servant  by  the  heels,  or  break  a  leg  or  an  arm  imme- 
diately for  it  ?  The  answer  of  a  servant,  a  wife,  a  tenant,  puts  some 
peopje  out  of  all  patience,  and  yet  they  can  quarrel  with  the  govern- 
ment for  not  allowing  them  the  same  liberty  in  public  which  they 
themselves  deny  to  their  own  families.  If  they  say  nothing,  'tis  con- 
tumacy ;  if  they  speak  or  laugh,  'tis  insolence.  Neither  are  our  eyes 
less  curious  and  fantastical  than  our  ears.  When  we  are  abroad,  we 
can  bear  well  enough  with  foul  ways,  nasty  streets,  noisome  ditches  ; 
but  a  spot  upon  a  dish  at  home,  or  an  unswept  hearth,  absolutely 
distracts  us.  And  what's  the  reason,  but  that  we  are  patient  iu  the 
one  place  and  peevish  in  the  other  ? 

Nothing  makes  us  more  intemperate  than  luxury.  When  Ave  are 
once  weakened  with  our  pleasures,  everything  grows  intolerable. 
And  we  are  angry  as  well  with  those  things  that  cannot  hurt  us  as 
with  those  that  do.  We  tear  a  book  because  it  is  blotted  ;  and  our 
clothes  because  they  are  not  well  made  —  things  that  neither  deserve 
our  anger  nor  feel  it.  The  tailor  perchance  did  his  best,  or  had  no 
intent  to  displease  us.  If  so,  first,  why  should  we  be  angry  at  all? 
Secondly,  why  should  we  be  angry  with  the  thing  for  the  man's 
eake  ?  Nay,  our  anger  extends  even  to  dogs,  horses,  and  other  beasts. 

Cyrus,  iu  his  design  upon  Babylon,  found  a  river  in  his  way  that 
put  a  stop  to  his  march.  The  current  was  strong,  and  carried  away 
one  of  the  horses  that  belonged  to  his  own  chariot  ;  upon  this  he  swore 
that,  since  it  had  obstructed  his  passage,  it  should  never  hinder  that 
of  another,  and  presently  set  his  whole  army  to  work  on  it,  which 
diverted  it  into  a  hundred  and  fourscore  channels,  and  laid  it  dry. 
In  this  ignoble  and  unprofitable  employment  he  lost  his  time  and  the 
soldiers  their  courage  ;  moreover,  he  gave  his  adversaries  an  oppor- 
tunity of  providing  themselves,  while  he  was  waging  war  with  a 
river  instead  of  au  enemy." 


EXTRACTS   FKOM   SENECA.  397 


OX   A    HAPPY   LIFE. 

"  It  is  dangerous  for  a  man  too  suddenly  or  too  easily  to  believe 
himself.  Wherefore  let  us  examine,  watch,  observe,  and  inspect  our 
own  hearts;  for  we  ourselves  are  our  own  greatest  flatterers.  Wo 
should  every  night  call  ourselves  to  account — '  What  infirmity  have 
I  mastered  to-day  ?  What  passion  opposed  ?  What  temptation  re- 
sisted ?  What  virtue  acquired  ?'  Our  vices  will  abate  of  themselves, 
if  they  be  brought  every  day  to  the  shrift.  O  the  blessed  sleep  that 
follows  such  a  diary !  O  the  tranquillity,  liberty,  and  greatness  of 
that  mind  that  is  a  spy  upon  itself,  and  a  private  censor  of  its  own 
manners !  It  is  my  custom  every  night,  so  soon  as  the  candle  is  out, 
to  run  over  all  the  words  and  actions  of  the  past  day ;  and  I  let  noth- 
ing escape  me.  What  can  be  more  reasonable  than  this  daily  review 
of  a  life  that  we  cannot  warrant  for  a  moment  ?" — I/ESTRANGE. 


MISCELLANEOUS   SAYINGS. 

"  Those  whom  God  loves,  he  disciplines. 

We  can  never  quarrel  enough  with  our  vices. 

The  day  of  death  is  the  birthday  of  eternity. 

There  is  no  need  to  pray  the  aadile  to  admit  you  to  the  ear  of  an 
image,  that  so  your  petitions  may  be  heard  the  better.  God  is  near 
you ;  he  is  with  you ;  a  holy  spirit  resides  within  us,  our  constant 
guardian. 

Let  us  be  liberal  after  the  example  of  our  great  Creator,  and  give 
to  others  with  the  same  consideration  that  he  gives  to  us. 

How  many  are  unworthy  of  the  light ;  yet  the  day  dawns. 

The  good-will  of  the  benefactor  is  the  fountain  of  all  benefits. 

To  obey  God  is  liberty. 

Apply  thyself  to  the  true  riches.  It  is  shameful  to  depend  for  a 
happy  life  on  silver  and  gold." 

Lucan  (39-65  A.D.),  the  nephew  of  Seneca,  though  born  at 
Cordova,  was  brought  up  at  Rome,  and  there  became  the  fel- 
low-pupil and  favorite  companion  of  Nero.  But  the  superior 
genius  of  the  Spanish  youth  provoked  the  jealousy  of  his  royal 
master,  who  had  rather  too  high  an  opinion  of  his  own  attain- 
ments, and  was  nettled  by  the  public  verdict  that  Lucan,  then 
only  twenty-three  years  of  age,  was  the  greatest  of  living  poets. 
At  length  the  awarding  of  the  prize  to  Lucan  in  a  literary 
contest  between  them  so  enraged  the  emperor  that  he  forbade 
his  former  friend  to  recite  any  more  pieces. 


398  ROMAN    LITERATURE. 

Lucan's  indiscretion  sealed  his  fate.  Not  content  with  li- 
bellous attacks  upon  Nero,  he  became  implicated  in  a  con- 
spiracy against  the  government,  upon  the  detection  of  which 
he  was  condemned  to  death.  Nero  allowing  him  to  choose 
the  manner  in  which  he  should  suffer,  the  poet  had  his  veins 
opened  in  a  hot  bath.  Becoming  faint  from  loss  of  blood,  he 
recited  a  passage  from  his  own  "  Pharsalia,"  descriptive  of  the 
death  of  a  snake-bitten  soldier  : — 

"  So  the  warm  blood  at  once  from  every  part 
Kan  purple  poison  down,  and  drained  the  fainting  heart. 
Blood  falls  for  tears,  and  o'er  his  mournful  face 
The  ruddy  drops  their  tainted  passage  trace. 
Where'er  the  liquid  juices  find  a  way, 
There  streams  of  blood,  there  crimson  rivers  stray ; 
His  mouth  and  gushing  nostrils  pour  a  flood, 
And  e'eu  the  pores  ooze  out  the  trickling  blood. 
In  the  red  deluge  all  the  parts  lie  drowned, 
And  the  whole  body  seems  one  bleeding  wound" — 

and  so  he  passed  away. 

Lucan  was  interred  at  Rome  in  his  own  garden.  An  an- 
cient monument  in  the  church  of  Santo  Paulo  contains  an 
inscription  to  his  memory,  probably  placed  there  by  order  of 
Nero,  who  seems  after  all  to  have  rendered  secret  homage  to 
his  genius  and  virtue.  The  talents  of  his  wife  have  been 
highly  commended;  and  it  is  probable  that  she  assisted  him 
in  composing  his  work. 

The  epic  "  Pharsalia  "  is  the  only  poem  of  Lucan's  that  we 
now  possess.  Its  subject  is  the  civil  war  between  Ccesar  and 
Pompey ;  and  it  receives  its  name  from  the  place  at  which 
the  decisive  battle  between  the  rival  commanders  was  fought. 
Though  inferior  to  the  ^Eneid,  it  certainly  displays  talent  of  a 
high  order.  Critics  have  differed  in  their  estimate  of  Lucan. 
That  he  has  faults,  none  will  deny  who  are  familiar  with  his 
tumid  style  and  love  of  tinsel.  On  the  other  hand,  energy, 
exuberant  imagination,  and  a  fervent  love  of  liberty,  are  his 
peculiar  excellences.  The  defects  of  the  Pharsalia  are  excus- 


LUCAN.  399 

able  in  a  youth  of  twenty-six.     Had  the  author  lived  to  revise 
and  finish  the  work,  it  might  have  equalled  Virgil's  epic. 

Lucan  is  partial  to  the  supernatural ;  dreams,  witches,  and 
ghosts,  enter  freely  into  his  machinery.  In  the  sixth  book  of 
the  Pharsalia,  he  makes  Pompey's  son  consult  the  witch  Erich- 
tho  on  the  eve  of  the  battle.  His  picture  of  the  weird  woman 
is  quoted  here  as  one  of  the  most  imaginative  passages  in  the 
whole  range  of  classical  poetry.  Erichtho  is  the  type  of  a 
class  of  impostors  firmly  believed  in  by  the  Romans  of  that 
day ;  the  powers  with  which  the  poet  endows  her  are  sim- 
ply those  attributed  to  her  by  popular  superstition. 

THE  WITCH  ERICHTHO. 

"  Whene'er  the  proud  enchantress  gives  command, 
Eternal  Motion  stops  her  active  hand; 
No  more  heaven's  rapid  circles  journey  on, 
But  universal  Nature  stands  foredone ; 
The  lazy  god  of  day  forgets  to  rise, 
And  everlasting  night  pollutes  the  skies. 
Jove  wonders  to  behold  her  shake  the  pole, 
And,  unconseuting,  hears  his  thunders  roll. 
Now,  with  a  word  she.hides  the  sun's  bright  face, 
And  blots  the  wide  ethereal  azure  space : 
Loosely,  anon,  she  shakes  her  flowing  hair, 
And  straight  the  stormy  lowering  heavens  are  fair : 
At  ouco  she  calls  the  golden  light  again ; 
The  clouds  fly  swift  away,  and  stops  the  drizzly  rain. 

In  stillest  calms,  she  bids  the  waves  run  high ; 
And  smooths  the  deep,  tho'  Boreas  shakes  the  sky : 
When  winds  are  hushed,  her  potent  breath  prevails, 
Wafts  on  the  bark,  and  fills  the  flagging  sails. 
Streams  have  run  back  at  murmurs  of  her  tongue, 
And  torrents  from  the  rock  suspended  hung : 
No  more  the  Nile  his  wonted  seasons  knows, 
And  in  a  line  the  straight  Mseander  flows. 
The  ponderous  earth,  by  magic  numbers  struck, 
Down  to  her  inmost  centre  deep  has  shook ; 
Then,  rending  with  a  yawn,  at  once  made  way, 
To  join  the  upper  and  the  nether  day : 
While  wondering  eyes,  the  dreadful  cleft  between, 
Another  starry  firmament  have  seen. 


KO1TAN   LITERATURE. 

Each  deadly  kind,  by  nature  formed  to  kill, 

Fears  the  dire  hags,  and  executes  their  \vill : 

Lions  to  them  their  nobler  rage  submit, 

And  fawning  tigers  crouch  beneath  their  feet : 

For  them  the  snake  foregoes  her  wintry  hold, 

And  on  the  hoary  frost  untwines  her  fold  ; 

The  poisonous  race  they  strike  with  stronger  death, 

And  blasted  vipers  die  by  human  breath. 

But  these,  as  arts  too  gentle  and  too  good, 
Nor  yet  with  death  or  guilt  enough  imbrued, 
With  haughty  scorn  the  fierce  Erichtho  viewed. 
New  mischief  she,  new  monsters,  durst  explore ; 
And  dealt  in  horrors  never  known  before. 
From  towns  and  hospitable  roofs  she  flies, 
And  every  dwelling  of  mankind  defies; 
Through  unfrequented  deserts  lonely  roams, 
Drives  out  the  dead,  and  dwells  within  their  tombs. 
Grateful  to  hell  the  living  hag  descends, 
And  sits  in  black  assemblies  of  the  fiends. 
Dark  matted  elf-locks  dangling  on  her  brow, 
Filthy  and  foul,  a  loathsome  burden  grow: 
Ghastly,  and  frightful  pale,  her  face  is  seen; 
Unknown  to  cheerful  day  and  skies  serene ; 
But,  -when  the  stars  are  veiled,  when  storms  arise, 
And  the  blue  forky  flame  at  midnight  flies, 
Then,  forth  from  graves  she  takes  her  wicked  way, 
And  thwarts  the  glancing  lightnings  as  they  play : 
Where'er  she  breathes  blue  poisons  round  her  spread, 
Tho  withering  grass  avows  her  fatal  tread. 

Oft  in  the  grave  the  living  has  she  laid, 
And  bid  reviving  bodies  leave  the  dead  : 
Oft  at  the  funeral  pile  she  seeks  her  prey, 
And  bears  the  smoking  ashes  warm  away ; 
Snatches  some  burning  bone,  or  flaming  brand, 
And  tears  the  torch  from  the  sad  father's  hand. 
Her  teeth  from  gibbets  gnaw  the  strangling  noose, 
And  from  the  cross  dead  murderers  unloose : 
Her  charms  the  use  of  sun-dried  marrow  find, 
And  husky  entrails  withered  in  the  wind. 

Where'er  the  battle  bleeds,  and  slaughter  lies, 
Thither,  preventing  birds  and  beasts,  she  hies ; 
Nor  then  content  to  seize  the  ready  prey, 
From  their  fell  jaws  she  tears  their  food  away ; 
She  marks  the  hungry  wolf's  pernicious  tooth, 
And  joys  to  rend  the  morsel  from  his  mouth : 


PLIXY   THE    ELDER.  401 

Nor  ever  yet  remorse  could  stop  her  hand, 

When  human  gore  her  cursed  rites  demand. 

When  blooming  youths  in  early  manhood  die, 

She  stands  a  terrible  attendant  by ; 

The  downy  growth  from  off"  their  cheeks  she  tears, 

Or  cuts  left-banded  some  selected  hairs. 

Oft,  when  in  death  her  gasping  kindred  lay, 

Some  pious  office  would  she  feign  to  pay ; 

And,  while  close  hovering  o'er  the  bed  sbe  hung, 

Bit  the  pale  lips,  and  cropped  the  quiveriug  tongue ; 

Then,  in  hoarse  murmurs,  ere  tbe  ghost  could  go, 

Muttered  some  message  to  the  shades  below." 

ROWE. 

The  Flavian  Era  is  memorable  for  a  few  writers  of  note. 
Pliny  the  Elder,  called  also  the  Naturalist,  was  an  intimate 
friend  of  the  emperor  Vespasian  ;  while  the  names  of  Martial, 
Statius,  and  Quintilian,  are  associated  with  the  reign  of  Do- 
mitian,  Vespasian's  son  (81-96  A.D.). 

Pliny  the  Elder  (23-79  A.D.)  was  born  at  Como  in  Cis- 
alpine Gaul,  and  there  passed  his  boyhood.  We  find  him 
afterward  at  Rome  attending  rhetorical  lectures,  and  still 
later  in  his  career  serving  as  a  soldier  in  Germany.  Nero 
made  him  proconsul  of  Spain,  and  at  the  expiration  of  his 
term  he  returned  to  Rome  to  find  his  old  friend  Vespasian 
invested  with  the  purple. 

Pliny  had  already  become  distinguished  as  the  author  of  a 
treatise  on  "the  Use  of  the  Javelin,"  a  "History  of  the  Ger- 
man Wars,"  and  eight  books  on  ''Difficulties  in  the  Latin 
Language."  He  now  devoted  himself  to  the  compilation  of 
his  "  Natural  History,"  the  only  work  we  have  left  from  kis 
pen,  which  Cuvier  pronounced  "one  of  the  most  precious 
monuments  that  have  come  down  to  us  from  ancient  times." 

We  might  well  wonder  how,  in  the  face  of  his  onerous  pub- 
lic duties,  Pliny  found  time  for  literary  pursuits  so  engrossing, 
did  not  his  nephew,  Pliny  the  Younger,  describe  to  us  his 
wonderful  industry.  His  day's  work  began  at  i  or  2  A.M., 


402  EOMAN  LITEKATUEE. 

even  in  winter;  sometimes  at  midnight.  Before  sunrise  he 
repaired  to  the  palace  to  chat  informally  with  Vespasian,  who 
like  him  was  accustomed  to  rob  the  night  of  a  few  hours ; 
after  which  he  applied  himself  to  business  and  study,  devot- 
ing every  spare  moment  to  the  accumulation  of  knowledge. 
"No  book  so  bad  but  that  something  good  may  be  gleaned 
from  it,"  was  his  motto.  To  be  without  a  volume  and  a  port- 
able writing-desk  was  a  crime  in  Pliny's  eyes.  A  slave  con- 
stantly attended  him,  to  take  down  his  words  in  short-hand ; 
during  his  meals  he  employed  a  reader,  and  even  in  his 
bath  he  dictated  or  listened.  "I  remember  his  chicling 
me,"  said  his  nephew,  "for  taking  a  walk,  saying  'You  might 
have  saved  three  hours.'  Compared  with  him,  I  am  an  idle 
vagabond." 

Pliny  the  Elder  was  a  martyr  to  science.  In  August,  79 
A.D.,  while  in  command  of  the  Mediterranean  squadron,  to 
which  he  had  been  appointed  by  Vespasian,  word  was  brought 
him  that  Vesuvius  was  in  a  state  of  eruption.  Desiring  to  in- 
vestigate the  phenomenon,  he  steered  straight  for  the  blazing 
mountain,  pushed  on  through  the  rain  of  hot  ashes  and  pum- 
ice-stones, and  when  advised  by  the  pilot  to  turn  back  fear- 
lessly replied,  "  Fortune  favors  the  brave !"  He  effected  a 
landing,  but  only  to  be  suffocated  by  the  sulphurous  vapors 
that  proved  fatal  to  so  many  of  the  inhabitants  of  Hercula- 
neum  and  Pompeii. 

Pliny  was  the  master-compiler  of  antiquity ;  and  he  was 
only  a  compiler,  as  he  himself  acknowledged.  His  Natural 
History,  in  thirty-seven  books,  is  a  storehouse  of  quaint  lore, 
according  to  its  author  a  condensation  of  two  thousand  vol- 
umes, relating  to  astronomy,  geography,  zoology,  botany,  min- 
eralogy, diseases  and  their  remedies,  etc.  A  penchant  for  the 
marvellous,  which  shows  him  to  have  been  a  man  of  infinite 
credulity,  was  a  weakness  of  Pliny ;  yet  his  stories  were  im- 
plicitly trusted  in  the  Dark  Ages,  and  many  of  them  re- 


EXTKACTS   FROM   PLIXY   THE   ELDEE.  403 

appeared  in  the  tales  of  the  Arabian  Nights.     A  few  of  his 
curious  statements  are  subjoined  : — 

ECCENTRICITIES  OF  NATURE. 

"  Some  individuals  are  born  with  certain  parts  of  the  body  en- 
dowed with  properties  of  a  marvellous  nature.  Such  was  the  case 
with  King  Pyrrhus,  the  great  toe  of  whose  right  foot  cured  diseases 
of  the  spleen  merely  by  touching  the  patient.  We  are  also  informed 
that  this  toe  could  not  be  reduced  to  ashes  together  with  the  other 
portions  of  the  body. 

India  and  Ethiopia  abound  iu  wonders.  According  to  Megasthe- 
nes,  on  a  mountain  called  Nulo  there  dwells  a  race  of  men  who  have 
their  feet  turned  backward,  with  eight  toes  on  each  foot.  On  many 
of  the  mountains,  again,  there  is  a  tribe  of  men  who  have  the  heads 
of  dogs ;  instead  of  speaking  they  bark,  and,  furnished  Avith  claws, 
they  live  by  hunting  and  catching  birds.  According  to  Ctesias,  tLo 
number  of  this  people  is  more  than  120,000.  This  author  speaks  also 
of  another  race  of  men  called  Single-legs,  who  have  only  one  limb, 
but,  are  able  to  leap  with  surprising  agility.  The  same  people  are 
also  called  Foot-sbadowers,  because  they  are  in  the  habit  of  lying  on 
their  backs,  and  protecting  themselves  from  the  sun  by  the  shade  of 
their  feet. 

At  the  very  extremity  of  India,  near  the  source  of  the  river  Ganges, 
there  is  the  nation  of  Mouthless  people;  their  bodies  are  rough  and 
overgrown  with  hair,  and  they  cover  themselves  with  a  down  plucked 
from  the  leaves  of  trees.  These  people  subsist  only  by  breathing  and 
by  the  odors  which  they  inhale  through  the  nostrils.  They  support 
themselves  upon  neither  meat  nor  drink ;  when  they  go  upon  a  long 
journey,  they  carry  with  them  only  odoriferous  roots  and  flowers, 
and  wild  apples,  that  they  may  not  be  without  something  to  smell 
at.  But  an  odor  which  is  a  little  more  powerful  than  usual  easily 
destroys  them." 


HYDROPHOBIA. 

"  Canine  madness  is  fatal  to  man  during  the  heat  of  the  Dog-star, 
and  proves  so  in  consequence  of  those  who  are  bitten  having  a  dead- 
ly horror  of  water.  For  this  reason,  during  the  thirty  days  that  the 
star  exerts  its  influence,  we  try  to  prevent  the  disease  in  dogs ;  or, 
if  they  are  attacked  by  it,  give  them  hellebore. 

We  have  a  single  remedy  against  the  bite,  which  has  been  but 
lately  discovered — the  root  of  the  wild  rose,  which  is  called  dog- 
rose.  Columella  informs  us  that  if,  on  the  fortieth  day  after  the 
birth  of  a  pup,  the  last  bone  of  the  tail  is  bitten  off,  the  sinew  will 
follow  with  it ;  after  which  the  tail  will  not  grow,  and  the  dog  will 
never  become  rabid." 

E,  2 


404  EOMAN   LITERATURE. 


REMEDIES  FOR  TOOTHACHE,  ETC. 

"Toothache  is  alleviated  by  .scarifying  the  gums  with  bones  of 
the  sea-dragon,  or  by  rubbing  the  teeth  once  a  year  with  the  brains 
of  a  dog-fish  boiled  in  oil.  It  is  a  very  good  plan,  too,  for  the  cure 
of  toothache,  to  lance  the  gums  with  the  sting  of  the  ray.  This 
sting  is  pounded  and  applied  to  the  teeth  with  white  hellebore,  hav- 
ing the  effect  of  extracting  them  without  the  slightest  difficulty.  A 
decoction  is  made  of  a  single  frog  boiled  in  two-thirds  of  a  pint  of 
vinegar,  and  the  teeth  are  rinsed  with  it.  It  is  generally  thought 
that  this  recipe  applies  more  particularly  to  the  double  teeth,  and 
that  the  vinegar  prepared  as  above  mentioned  is  remarkably  useful 
for  strengthening  them  when  loose.  Ashes,  also,  of  burnt  crabs  make 
an  excellent  dentifrice. 

There  is  a  small  frog  which  ascends  trees,  and  croaks  aloud  there; 
if  a  person  suffering  from  cough  spits  into  its  mouth  and  then  lets  it 
go,  he  will  experience  a  cure.  For  cough  attended  with  spitting  of 
blood,  it  is  recommended  to  beat  up  the  raw  flesh  of  a  snail,  and  to 
drink  it  in  hot  water." — RILEY. 

Martial  (43-117  A.D.). — The  chief  poet  of  Domitian's 
reign  was  Martial,  master  of  the  Latin  epigram.  Born  in 
Spain,  Martial  came  to  Rome  in  Nero's  time  and  began  the 
study  of  law.  But  rinding  it  uncongenial,  he  adopted  litera- 
ture as  a  profession,  and  rose  to  distinction  under  Titus  and 
Domitian,  his  sordid  flattery  of  the  latter  securing  him  wealth 
and  honors. 

The  epigrams  of  Martial  are  pithy,  pointed  with  satire,  and 
not  without  elegance ;  but  the  pleasure  of  reading  them  is 
constantly  interrupted  by  coarse  allusions  and  even  down- 
right obscenity.  Hence  it  has  been  justly  said  that  Martial 
taught  vice  while  reproving  it.  His  poems,  however,  contain 
valuable  pictures  of  Roman  manners. 

THE  BEAU. 

"  They  tell  me,  Cotilus,  that  you're  a  beau  : 
What  this  is,  Cotilus,  I  wish  to  know. 
'A  beau  is  one  who,  with  the  nicest  care, 
In  parted  locks  divides  his  curling  hair ; 
One  who  with  balm  and  cinnamon  smells  sweet, 
Whose  humming  lips  some  Spanish  air  repeat ; 


MARTIAL. STATIUS.         •  405 

Whoso  naked  arras  arc  smoothed  with  pumice-stone, 

And  tossed  about  with  graces  all  his  own. 

A  beau  is  one  who  takes  his  .constant  seat, 

From  morn  to  evening,  where  the  ladies  meet ; 

And  ever,  on  some  sofa  hovering  near, 

Whispers  soft  nothings  in  some  fair  one's  ear ; 

Who  scribbles  thousand  billets-doux  a  day ; 

Still  reads  and  scribbles,  reads  and  sends  away. 

A  beau  is  one  who  shrinks,  if  nearly  pressed 

By  the  coarse  garment  of  a  neighbor  gnest ; 

Who  knows  who  flirts  with  whom,  and  still  is  found 

At  each  good  table  in  successive  round. 

A  beau  is  one — none  better  knows  than  he 

A  race-horse  and  his  noble  pedigree.' — 

Indeed  ?     Why,  Cotilus,  if  this  be  so, 

What  teasing  trifling  thing  is  called  a  beau !" 


"  With  but  one  eye  Philoeuis  weeps.     How  done 
If  you' inquire,  know  she  hath  got  but  one." 

Statius  (61-96  A.D.),  a  contemporary  and  rival  of  Martial, 
was  the  author  of  the  epic  "  Theba'is,"  based  on  the  strife  of 
the  sons  of  (Edipus  (see  p.  200).  Despite  the  fact  that  the 
poet  gave  a  year's  work  to  each  of  its  twelve  books,  this  epic 
has  little  to  recommend  it. 

Statius  began  another  poem  on  the  life  of  Achilles,  which 
he  did  not  live  to  finish.  His  forte  lay  not  in  the  line  of  epics, 
but  in  the  improvising  of  short  pointed  pieces,  thirty-two  of 
which  are  preserved  in  the  collection  called  "  Silvae."  Juve- 
nal bears  witness  to  his  popularity. 

Statius  was  patronized  by  the  emperor  Domitian,  but  is  said 
to  have  been  stabbed  by  the  latter  with  a  stylus,  in  a  fit  of 
anger.  The  following  tender  lines  are  from  a  poem  addressed 
to  his  wife  Claudia. 

STATIUS  TO  HIS  WIFE. 

"  Whither  could  ocean's  waves  my  bark  convey, 
Nor  thou  be  fond  companion  of  my  way  f 
Yes — did  I  seek  to  fix  my  mansion  drear 
Where  polar  ice  congeals  the  inclement  year ; 


406  EOMAN   LITEKATUBE. 

Where  the  seas  darken  round  far  Thule's  isle, 

Or  unapproached  recedes  the  head  of  Nile ; 

Thy  voice  would  cheer  me  on.     May  that  kind  Power, 

Who  joined  our  hands  when  in  thy  beauty's  flower, 

Still,  when  the  blooming  years  of  life  decline, 

Prolong  the  blessing,  and  preserve  thee  mine ! 

To  thee,  whose  charms  gave  first  the  enamoring  wound, 

And  my  wild  youth  in  marriage  fetters  bound; 

To  theo  submissive,  I  received  the  rein, 

Nor  sigh  for  change,  but  hug  the  pleasing  chain. 

And  thou  hast  listened,  with  entranced  desire, 
The  first  rude  sounds  that  would  my  lips  inspire  ; 
Thy  watchful  ear  would  snatch,  with  keen  delight, 
My  verse,  low-murmured  through  the  live-long  night. 
To  only  thee  my  lengthened  toils  were  known, 
And  with  thy  y«ars  has  my  Thebaid  grown. 
I  saw  thee,  what  thou  art,  when  late  I  stood 
On  the  dark  verge  of  the  Lethsean  flood ; 
When  glazed  in  death,  I  closed  my  quivering  eyes, 
Eelenting  Fate  restored  me  to  thy  sighs ; 
Thou  wert  alone  the  cause,  the  Power  above 
Feared  thy  despair  and  melted  to  thy  love." — ELTON. 

Sulpitia. — We  must  not  pass  over  the  Roman  lyric  poetess 
Sulpitia,  the  Sappho  of  Domitian's  age — a  noble  lady  of  ex- 
ceptional genius,  who  claims  that  she 

"  First  taught  the  Koman  dames  to  vie 
With  Gra3cia's  nymphs  of  lyric  minstrelsy." 

A  short  satire  on  Domitian's  expulsion  of  the  Greek  philos- 
ophers from  Italy,  bearing  the  name  of  Sulpitia,  still  survives. 
It  is  valuable,  as  the  only  fragment  we  have  from  a  Roman 
poetess.  From  it  we  extract  the  following  apt  simile  : — 

"It  fares  with  Eomans  as  with  wasps,  whose  home 
Is  hung  where  Juno's  temple  rears  its  dome ; 
A  bristling  crowd,  they  wave  their  flickering  wings, 
Their  yellow  bodies  barbed  with  quivering  stings. 
But  not  like  wasps,  thus  tremblingly  alive, 
The  bee,  secure  returning,  haunts  her  hive ; 
Forgetful  of  the  comb,  by  sloth  oppressed, 
The  swarm,  the  queen,  die  slow  in  pampered  rest : 
And  this  the  sous  of  Romulus  have  found, 
Sunk  in  the  lap  of  peace,  in  long  perdition  drowned." 


QUINTILIAN.  407 

Quintilian  (35-95  A.D.),  of  Spanish  parentage  but  Roman 
education,  for  many  years  taught  eloquence  successfully  in  the 
capital,  numbering  among  his  pupils  the  nephews  of  Domitian. 
He  had  the  good  fortune  to  enjoy  the  favor  of  the  emperor, 
and  filled  a  professorship  to  which  was  attached  an  annual 
salary  of  about  $4,000. 

•Quintilian  is  honored  as  the  author  of  the  "Institutes  of 
Oratory,"  an  exhaustive  rhetorical  treatise  in  twelve  books, 
devoted  to  the  education  of  the  orator  from  infancy.  "No 
other  author,"  it  has  been  said,  "ever  adorned  a  scientific 
treatise  with  so  many  happy  metaphors."  No  other  author, 
it  may  be  added,  ever  succeeded  better  in  investing  a  dry 
subject  with  general  interest.  The  "Institutes"  may  be  read 
with  profit  by  all  who  desire  to  improve  their  style. 

Quintilian  insists  on  virtue  as  a  requisite  of  the  perfect 
orator ;  yet  with  strange  inconsistency  excuses  a  falsehood 
if  told  in  a  good  cause,  and  justifies  the  doing  of  evil  that 
good  may  come.  We  present  a  few  paragraphs  on 

THE  EMBELLISHMENT  OF  STYLE. 

"  By  polish  and  embellishment  of  style  the  orator  recommends 
himself  to  his  auditors  iii  his  proper  character;  in  his  other  efforts 
he  courts  the  approbation  of  the  learned,  in  this  the  applause  of  the 
multitude.  Cicero,  in  pleading  the  cause  of  Cornelius,  fought  -with 
arms  that  were  not  only  stout,  but  dazzling;  nor  would  he,  merely 
by  instructing  the  judge,  or  by  speaking  to  the  purpose  in  pure  Latin 
and  with  perspicuity,  have  caused  the  Roman  people  to  testify  their 
admiration  of  him  not  only  by  acclamations,  but  even  by  tumults  of 
applause.  It  was  the  sublimity,  magnificence,  splendor,  and  dignity 
of  his  eloquence,  that  drew  forth  that  thunder  of  approbation. 

This  grace  of  style  may  contribute  in  no  small  degree  to  the  suc- 
cess of  a  cause ;  for  thos"e  who  listen  with  pleasure  are  both  more 
attentive  and  more  ready  to  believe ;  they  are  very  frequently  cap- 
tivated with  pleasure,  and  sometimes  hurried  away  in  admiration. 
Thus  the  glitter  of  a  sword  strikes  something  of  terror  into  the  eyes ; 
and  thunderstorms  themselves  would  not  alarm  us  so  much  as  they 
do,  if  it  were  their  force  only,  and  not  also  their  flame,  that  was 
dreaded.  Cicero,  accordingly,  in  one  of  his  letters  to  Brutus,  makes 
with  good  reason  the  following  remark :  'That  eloquence  which  ex- 


408  KOHAN  LITERATURE. 

cites  no  admiration,  I  account  as  nothing.'  Aristotle,  also,  thinks 
that  to  excite  admiration  should  be  one  of  our  greatest  objects. 

But  let  the  embellishment  of  our  style  be  manly,  noble,  and  chaste ; 
let  it  not  affect  effeminate  delicacy,  or  a  complexion  counterfeited  by 
paint,  but  let  it  glow  with  geuuiue  health  and  vigor.  Should  I  think 
a  piece  of  laud  better  cultivated,  in  which  the  owner  should  show  me 
lilies,  auemoaies,  and  violets,  and  fountaius  playing,  than  otie  in  which 
there  is  a  plentiful  harvest,  or  vines  laden  -with  grapes  ?  Should  I 
prefer  barren  plane-trees,  or  clipped  myrtles,  to  elms  embraced  with. 
vines,  and  fruitful  olive-trees?  The  rich  may  have  such  unproduc- 
tive gratifications ;  but  what  would  they  be,  if  they  had  nothing 
else? 

Whatever  may  be  attractive  in  conception,  elegant  in  expression, 
pleasing  in  figures,  rich  in  metaphor,  or  polished  in  composition,  the 
orator,  like  a  dealer,  as  it  were,  in  eloquence,  will  lay  before  his  audi- 
ence for  them  to  inspect,  and  almost  to  handle ;  for  his  success  en- 
tirely concerns  his  reputation,  aud  not  his  cause.  But  when  a  serious 
affair  is  in  question,  and  there  is  a  contest  in  real  earnest,  anxiety  for 
mere  applause  should  be  an  orator's  last  concern.  Indeed,  no  speak- 
er, where  important  interests  are  involved,  should  be  very  solicitous 
about  his  words." — WATSON. 

Among  the  lesser  lights  of  the  first  Christian  century  were 
QUINTUS  CURTIUS,  who  compiled  a  "  History  of  Alexander 
the  Great;"  COLUMELLA,  a  writer  on  agriculture;  POMPONIUS 
MELA,  the  first  Latin  geographer ;  PROBUS,  the  grammarian ; 
VALERIUS  FLACCUS,  who  wrote  the  epic  "  Argonautica,"  in 
imitation  of  Apollonius  Rhodius ;  and  SILIUS  ITALICUS,  au- 
thor of  a  third-rate  epic  on  the  Punic  Wars. 

AGE  OF  TRAJAN  AND  THE  ANTONINES. 

Juvenal  (40-125  A.D.),  the  single  poet  of  this  age,  ranks 
with  Rome's  great  writers.  The  accounts  of  his  life  are  frag- 
mentary and  obscure.  A  native  of  Aqui'num  in  Latium,  he 
came  to  Rome,  and  was  apparently  a  student  of  rhetoric,  per- 
haps an  advocate.  A  chance  lampoon  on  an  actor  revealed 
to  him  his  satirical  talent,  and  forthwith  he  applied  himself  to 
that  branch  of  poetry  in  which  he  became  so  eminent.  Too 
modest  at  first  to  read  his  satires  even  before  his  friends,  Ju- 
venal postponed  publishing  them  until  his  sixtieth  year,  when 
they  took  Rome  by  storm.  Sixteen  of  them  survive. 


JUVENAL.  409 

His  fierce  diatribes  not  unnaturally  gave  offence  in  high 
places ;  and  at  length  the  emperor  Ha'drian*  quietly  sent 
their  author  off  to  Egypt,  to  command  a  Roman  cohort  sta- 
tioned there — -a  disgrace  which  brought  the  old  satirist  in 
sorrow  to  the  grave. 

Juvenal  probed  Roman  society  to  its  very  depths,  laying 
bare  vices  of  the  blackest  dye.  In  his  day,  the  degenerate 
masters  of  the  world  even  out-sodomed  Sodom  in  depravity. 
Nobles  and  emperors  openly  perpetrated  the  vilest  crimes. 
High-born  ladies,  in  male  attire,  entered  the  arena  to  fight  like 
gladiators ;  revelled  in  reckless  extravagance ;  plunged  into 
immoralities  that  call  up  a  blush  in  the  very  recital,  and  even 
added  the  arts  of  the  poisoner  to  their  accomplishments.  Thus 
the  poet  exclaims  against  these  fashionable  murderesses : — 

"  They  sec  upon  the  stage  the  Grecian  wife 
Redeeming  with  her  own  her  husband's  life; 
Yet,  in  her  place,  would  willingly  deprive 
Their  lords  of  breath,  to  keep  their  dogs  alive ! 
Abroad,  at  home,  the  Belides  t  you  meet, 
And  Clytemuestras  swarm  in  every  street ; 
But  here  the  difference  lies — those  bungling  wives 
With  a  blunt  axe  hacked  out  their  husbands'  lives; 
While  now  the  deed  is  done  with  dexterous  art, 
And  a  drugged  bowl  performs  the  axe's  part." 

In  the  blaze  of  his  satire  Juvenal  brought  out  the  represent- 


*  Hadrian  was  for  the  most  part  a  patron  of  literary  men,  and  himself  spoke 
and  wrote  with  eloquence.  Pope's  paraphrase  has  made  familiar  his  verse  ad- 
dressed to  his  soul : — 

"Ah!  fleeting  spirit!  wandering  fire, 

That  long  hast  warmed  my  tender  breast, 
Must  thou  no  more  this  frame  inspire, 
No  more  a  pleasing,  cheerful  guest  ? 
Whither,  ah!  whither  art  thou  flying? 

To  what  dark  undiscovered  shore  ? 
Thou  seem'st  all  trembling,  shivering,  dying, 
And  wit  and  humor  are  no  more." 

f  The  fifty  daughters  of  Danaus,  who  stabbed  their  husbands  on  the  marriage- 
night. 


410  ROMAN   LITEKATUEE. 

ative  characters  of  his  time.  Parasites,  hypocrites,  and  pan- 
ders, upstarts,  legacy -hunters,  and  gamblers,  ballet-dancers 
and  fortune-tellers,  gluttons  and  sots, — defile  before  us  in  his 
pages  till  we  turn  with  nausea  from  the  revolt-ing  panorama. 
Well  might  the  poet  sigh  : — 

"  Oh !  happy  were  our  sires,  estranged  from  crimes ; 
And  happy,  happy  were  the  good  old  times, 
Which  saw  beneath  their  kings',  their  tribunes'  reign, 
One  cell  the  nation's  criminals  contain !" 

Juvenal's  vividness  of  description  and  minuteness  of  detail 
show  him  to  have  been  personally  familiar  with  the  vices  he 
lashed ;  that  he  kept  himself  unspotted  we  can  neither  assert 
nor  deny.  His  satires  are  full  of  moral  precepts  and  virtuous 
sentiments;  the  Tenth,  perhaps  the  gem  of  the  collection,  has 
lent  more  thoughts  and  expressions  to  modern  times  than  any 
other  Latin  poem  of  equal  length.  It  closes  with  a  beautiful 
petition  : — 

JUVENAL'S  PEAYEE. 

"  O  Thou  who  know'st  the  wants  of  human  kind, 
Vouchsafe  me  health  of  body,  health  of  mind ; 
A  soul  prepared  to  meet  the  frowns  of  fate, 
And  look  undaunted  on  a  future  state ; 
That  reckons  death  a  blessing,  yet  can  bear 
Existence  nobly,  with  its  weight  of  care ; 
That  anger  and  desire  alike  restrains, 
And  counts  Alcides'  toils,  and  cruel  pains, 
Superior  far  to  banquets,  wanton  nights, 
And  all  the  Assyrian  monarch's  soft  delights! 

Here  bound,  at  length,  thy  wishes.     I  but  teach 
What  blessings  man,  by  his  own  powers,  may  reach. 
The  path  to  peace  is  virtue.     We  should  see, 
If  wise,  O  Fortune,  naught  divine  in  thee  : 
But  wo  have  deified  a  name  alone, 
And  fixed  in  heaven  thy  visionary  throne!" 

Brevity,  intensity,  and  vigor,  are  conspicuous  elements  in 
our  author's  style.  He  always  used  "the  best  words  in  the 
right  places."  Said  Dryden,  his  only  peer  in  satiric  poetry, 
"Juvenal  gives  me  as  much  pleasure  as  I  can  bear."  We 


EXTRACT   FROM   JUVENAL.  411 

extract  from  the  Tenth  Satire  one  of  his  most  graphic  pas- 
sages : — 

THE  INSTABILITY  OF  FORTUNE. 

[Illustrated  by  the  fall  of  Sejauus.] 

"  Some,  Power  hurls  headlong  from  her  envied  height; 
Some,  the  broad  tablet,  flashing  on  the  sight, 
With  titles,  names :  the  statues,  tumbled  down, 
Are  dragged  by  hooting  thousands  through  the  town ; 
The  brazen  cars  torn  rudely  from  the  yoke, 
And,  with  the  blameless  steeds,  to  shivers  broke — 
Then  roar  the  flames !     The  sooty  artist  blows, 
And  all  Sejanus*  in  the  furnace  glows ; 
Sejanus,  once  so  honored,  so  adored, 
And  only  second  to  the  world's  great  lord, 
Runs  glittering  from  the  mould,  in  cups  and  cans, 
Basins  and  ewers,  plates,  pitchers,  pots,  and  pans. 

'  Crown  all  your  doors  with  bay,  triumphant  bay! 
Sacred  to  Jove,  the  milk-white  victim  slay ; 
For  lo !  where  great  Sejauus  by  the  throng, 
A  joyful  spectacle!  is  dragged  along. 
What  lips  !  what  cheeks!  ha,  traitor!  for  my  part, 
I  never  loved  the  fellow — in  my  heart.' 

'  But  tell  me,  why  was  he  adjudged  to  bleed  ? 
And  who  discovered,  and  who  proved  the  deed  V 

1  Proved ! — a  huge  wordy  letter  came  to-day 
From  Capreae.'     Good !  what  think  the  people  ?     They— 
They  follow  fortune,  as  of  old,  and  hate, 
With  their  whole  souls,  the  victim  of  the  state. 
Yet  would  the  herd,  thus  zealous,  thus  on  fire, 
Had  Nnrsiat  met  the  Tuscan's  fond  desire, 
Aud  crushed  the  unwary  prince,  have  all  combined, 
And  hailed  Sejanus  master  of  mankind! 

Lured  by  the  splendor  of  his  happier  hour, 
Wouldst  thou  possess  Sejauus'  wealth  aud  power; 
See  crowds  of  suppliants  at  thy  levee  wait, 
Give  this  to  sway  the  army,  that  the  state ; 
And  keep  a  prince  in  ward,  retired  to  reign 
O'er  Caprese's  crags,  with  his  Chaldean  train  ? 
Yes,  yes,  thou  wouldst  (for  I  can  read  thy  breast) 
Enjoy  that  favor  which  he  once  possessed, 

*  The  wicked  minister  of  the  emperor  Tiberius,  who  encouraged  his  master  in 
the  most  detestable  vices.  At  length,  having  engaged  in  a  conspiracy  with  the 
view  of  usurping  the  empire,  he  was  executed  by  Tiberius.  The  fate  of  the 
bronze  statues  raised  in  his  honor  is  related  by  the  poet. 

f  The  Etruscan  goddess  of  fortune. 


412  ROMAN   LITERATURE. 

Assume  all  offices,  grasp  all  commands, 

The  Imperial  Horse,  aiid  the  Praetorian  Bauds. 

'Tis  Nature,  this ;  e'en  those  who  want  the  will, 

Pant  for  the  dreadful  privilege  to  kill : 

Yet  what  delight  can  rank  and  power  bestow, 

Since  every  joy  is  balanced  by  its  woe!" — GIFFORD. 

Tacitus  (54-118  A.D.). — Foremost  among  the  prose  writers 
of  this  later  period  was  Caius  Cornelius  Tacitus,  by  some  con- 
sidered the  greatest  of  Roman  historians.  Of  his  early  life 
we  know  nothing,  though  as  a  youth  he  seems  to  have  mas- 
tered those  arts  which  afterward  made  him  a  successful  ora- 
tor. In  the  reign  of  Vespasian  he  took  to  wife  the  daughter 
of  Julius  Agricola,  the  Roman  governor  of  Britain,  and  began 
a  public  career  which  culminated  under  Nerva  ^97  A.D.)  in 
the  consulship.  After  this  he  probably  confined  his  attention 
to.literature,  busying  himself  with  the  compilation  of  historical 
works  until  death  put  an  end  to  his  labors. 

The  first  of  these  in  the  order  of  time  was  the  "  Agricola," 
an  admirable  biography  of  the  author's  father-in-law,  "the 
hero  of  a  hundred  fights,  the  conqueror  of  those  warlike  isl- 
anders whom  the  mighty  Julius  left  to  their  original  freedom, 
and  whom  Claudius  and  his  captains  imperfectly  subdued." 
It  is  particularly  valuable  for  the  light  it  casts  on  the  history 
of  Britain,  and  the  influence  of  Roman  institutions. 

"Agricola,"  said  Tacitus,  "gave  private  encouragement 
and  public  aid  to  the  building  of  temples,  courts  of  justice, 
and  dwelling-houses,  praising  the  energetic  and  reproving  the 
indolent.  Thus  an  honorable  rivalry  took  the  place  of  com- 
pulsion. He  likewise  provided  a  liberal  education  for  the 
sons  of  the  chiefs,  and  showed  such  a  preference  for  the  nat- 
ural powers  of  the  Britons  over  the  industry  of  the  Gauls  that 
they  who  lately  disdained  the  tongue  of  Rome  now  coveted 
its  eloquence.  Hence,  too,  a  liking  sprung  up  for  our  style 
of  dress,  and  the  togd  became  fashionable.  Step  by  step  they 
were  led  to  things  which  dispose  to  vice — the  lounge,  the 


TACITUS.  413 

bath,  the  elegant  banquet.  All  this,  in  their  ignorance,  they 
called  civilization." 

The  "  Agricola "  was  followed  by  "  the  Germania,"  a  trea- 
tise on  the  situation,  customs,  and  tribes  of  Germany,  in  whose 
freedom-loving  warriors  Tacitus  saw  an  enemy  to  be  feared. 
What  more  caustic  satires  than  his  telling  contrasts  of  their 
simple  habits  with  Roman  luxury,  their  stern  morality  with 
Roman  profligacy?  The  Germania  may  be  regarded  as  a 
warning  from  a  patriotic  historian  to  his  vice-ridden,  enervated 
countrymen  —  a  warning  which  they  would  have  done  well  to 
regard.  Particularly  pleasing  are  its  picturesque  sketches  of 
German  life,  written  in  concise,  vigorous  language. 

The  remaining  works  of  Tacitus  are  his  "Histories,"  "An- 
nals," and  a  Dialogue  on  "the  Decline  of  Eloquence."  The 
Histories  covered  the  reigns  of  the  Roman  emperors  from 
Galba  to  Domitian  inclusive  (69-96  A.D.) ;  about  one-third 
of  the  work  is  preserved.  The  genius  of  Tacitus  did  ample 
justice  to  the  tremendous  issues  of  this  eventful  period,  de- 
scribed by  him  as  follows  : — 

"  I  am  entering  on  the  history  of  a  period  rich  in  disasters,  fright- 
ful in  its  wars,  torn  by  civil  strife,  and  even  in  peace  full  of  horrors. 
Four  emperors  perished  by  the  sword.  There  were  three  civil  wars : 
there  were  more  with  foreign  enemies :  there  were  often  wars  that 
had  both  characters  at  once.  Now,  too,  Italy  was  prostrated  by  dis- 
asters, either  entirely  novel  or  that  recurred  only  after  a  long  suc- 
cession of  ages.  Cities  in  Campania's  richest  plains  were  swallowed 
up  and  overwhelmed  ;  Rome  was  wasted  by  conflagrations,  its  old- 
est temples  were  consumed,  and  the  Capitol  itself  was  fired  by  the 
hands  of  citizens.  Never,  surely,  did  more  terrible  calamities  of  the 
Roman  people,  or  evidence  more  conclusive,  prove  that  the  gods  take 
no  thought  for  our  happiness,  but  only  for  our  punishment." 

In  the  "Annals"  (sixteen  books),  which  traced  the  history 
of  the  emperors  from  the  death  of  Augustus  up  to  the  point 
at  which  the  Histories  had  opened,  the  voice  of  the  indignant 
satirist  is  everywhere  heard.  Portions  of  this  work,  which 
were  published  about  115  A.D.,  are  lost.  We  extract  the 
historian's  vivid  description  of  the  burning  of  Rome. 


414  EOMAN   LITEEATUEE. 


THE  BUKNING  OF  ROME. 

"  There  followed  a  dreadful  disaster,  whether  fortuitously  or  by 
the  wicked  contrivance  of  the  prince  is  not  determined,  for  both 
are  asserted  by  historians.  But  of  all  the  calamities  which  ever  be- 
fell this  city  from  the  rage  of  fire,  this  was  the  most  terrible.  It 
broke  out  in  that  part  of  the  Circus  which  is  coutiguous  to  mounts 
Palatine  and  Coslius,  where,  by  reason  of  shops  in  which  were  kept 
such  goods  as  minister  aliment  to  fire,  the  moment  it  commenced  it 
acquired  strength,  and  being  accelerated  by  the  wind,  it  spread  at 
once  through  the  whole  extent  of  the  Circus.  For  neither  were  the 
houses  secured  by  enclosures,  nor  the  temples  environed  with  walls, 
nor  was  there  any  other  obstacle  to  intercept  its  progress ;  but  the 
flame,  spreading  every  way  impetuously,  invaded  first  the  lower  re- 
gions of  the  city,  then  mounted  to  the  higher;  then  again  ravaging 
the  lower,  it  baffled  every  effort  to  extinguish  it,  by  the  rapidity  of  its 
destructive  course,  and  from  the  liability  of  the  city  to  conflagration 
in  consequence  of  the  narrow  and  intricate  alleys,  and  the  irregu- 
larity of  tho  streets  in  ancient  Rome. 

Add  to  this  the  wailings  of  terrified  women,  the  infirm  condition 
of  tho  aged,  and  the  helplessness  of  childhood ;  such  as  strove  to 
provide  for  themselves,  and  those  who  labored  to  assist  others ; 
these  dragging  the  feeble,  those  waiting  for  them ;  some  hurrying, 
others  lingering ;  altogether  created  a  scene  of  universal  confusion 
and  embarrassment.  While  they  looked  back  upon  tho  danger  in 
their  rear,  they  often  found  themselves  beset  before,  aud  on  their 
sides;  or  if  they  had  escaped  into  the  quarters  adjoining,  these  too 
•were  already  seized  by  tho  devouring  flames;  even  the  parts  which 
they  believed  to  bo  remote  and  "exempt,  were  found  to  be  in  tho 
same  distress. 

At  last,  not  knowing  what  to  shun  or  where  to  seek  sanctuary,, 
they  crowded  the  streets,  and  lay  along  in  the  open  fields.  Some, 
from  the  loss  of  their  whole  substance,  even  the  means  of  their  daily 
sustenance,  others,  from  affection  for  their  relatives  whom  they  had 
not  been  able  to  snatch  from  the  flames,  suffered  themselves  to  per- 
ish in  them,  though  they  had  opportunity  to  escape.  Neither  dared 
any  man  offer  to  check  tho  fire :  so  repeated  were  the  menaces  of 
many  who  forbade  to  extinguish  it ;  and  because  others  openly  threw 
fire-brands,  with  loud  declarations  '  that  they  had  one  who  author- 
ized them  ;'  whether  they  did  it  that  they  might  plunder  with  less 
restraint,  or  in  consequence  of  orders  given. 

Nero,  who  was  at  that  juncture  sojourning  at  Antium,  did  not  re- 
turn to  the  city  till  the  fire  approached  that  quarter  of  his  house 
which  connected  the  palace  with  the  gardens  of  Maecenas ;  nor  could 
it,  however,  be  prevented  from  devouring  the  house,  and  palace,  and 
everything  around.  But  for  the  relief  of  tho  people  thus  destitute 
aud  driven  from  their  dwellings,  ho  opened  the  field  of  Mars,  and 


EXTRACT  FKOM   TACITUS.  415 

oven  his  own  gardens.  He  likewise  reared  temporary  houses  for 
the  reception  of  the  forlorn  multitude ;  from  Ostia  and  the  neigh- 
boring cities  were  brought  household  necessaries,  and  the  price  of 
grain  was  reduced  to  three  sesterces  (about  Hi  cts.)  the  measure. 
All  which  proceedings,  though  of  a  popular  character,  were  thrown 
away,  because  a  rumor  had  become  universally  current,  that  at  the 
very  time  when  the  city  was  in  flames  Nero,  going  on  the  stage  of 
his  private  theatre,  sung  '  The  Destruction  of  Troy,'  assimilating 
the  present  disaster  to  that  catastrophe  of  ancient  times. 

At  length,  on  the  sixth  day,  the  conflagration  was  stayed  by  pull- 
ing down  an  immense  quantity  of  buildings,  so  that  an  open  space 
and,  as  it  were,  void  air,  might  check  the  raging  element  by  break- 
ing the  continuity.  .  .  .  But  not  all  the  bounties  that  the  prince 
could  bestow,  nor  all  the  atonements  which  could  be  presented  to 
the  gods,  availed  to  relieve  Nero  from  the  infamy  of  being  believed 
to  have  ordered  the  fire.  Hence,  to  suppress  the  rumor,  he  falsely 
charged  with  the  guilt  and  punished  with  the  most  exquisite  tort- 
ures, the  persons  commonly  called  Christians,  who  were  hated  for 
their  enormities.*  Christus,  the  founder  of  that  sect,  was  put  to 
death  as  a  criminal  by  Pontius  Pilate,  procurator  of  Judea,  in  the 
reign  of  Tiberius;  but  the  pernicious  superstition,  repressed  for  a 
time,  broke  out  again,  not  only  through  Judea,  where  the  mischief 
originated,  but  through  the  city  of  Rome  also,  whither  all  things 
horrible  and  disgraceful  flow  from  all  quarters,  as  to  a  common  re- 
ceptacle, and  where  they  are  encouraged. 

Accordingly,  first  those  were  seized  who  confessed  they  were 
Christians ;  next,  on  their  information,  a  vast  multitude  were  con- 
victed, not  so  much  on  a  charge  of  burning  the  city  as  of  hating  the 
human  race.  And  in  their  deaths  they  were  also  made  the  subjects 
of  sport,  for  they  were  covered  with  the  hides  of  wild  beasts  and 
worried  to  death  by  dogs,  or  nailed  to  crosses,  or  set  fire  to,  and  when 
day  declined  burned  to  serve  for  nocturnal  lights.!  Nero  offered  his 
own  gardens  for  that  spectacle,  and  exhibited  a  Circeusian  game,  in- 
discriminately mingling  with  the  common  people  in  the  habit  of  a 
charioteer,  or  else  standing  in  his  chariot.  Whence  a  feeling  of  com- 
passion arose  toward  the  sufferers,  though  guilty  and  deserving  to 
be  made  examples  of  by  capital  punishment,  because  they  seemed 
not  to  be  cut  off  for  the  public  good,  but  victims  to  the  ferocity  of 
one  man." 

Suetonius,  a  contemporary  of  Tacitus,  appears  to  have  been 
born  in  the  reign  of  Vespasian.  His  literary  labors  began  in 
Trajan's  time  ;  and  under  Hadrian  he  occupied  the  honorable 


*  Tacitus  shared  the  unjust  prejudice  current  among  the  Eomans. 
f  This  was  the  first  of  the  ten  persecutions  of  the  Christians. 


416  EOMAN  LITEEATUEE. 

position  of  private  secretary,  which,  however,  he  lost  in  con- 
sequence of  disrespect  to  the  empress. 

The  best- known  of  his  works,  and  the  only  one  that  has 
been  preserved  entire,  is  his  "  Lives  of  the  Twelve  Caesars," 
full,  interesting,  and  trustworthy  in  its  information,  clear  and 
vigorous  in  style.  The  "  Caesars  "  of  Suetonius  has  always 
been  a  standard.  The  Romans  dwelt  on  his  stories  with 
gusto;  but  in  such  frightful  colors  did  he  paint  the  deeds 
of  Caligula  that  the  tyrant  Com'modus  made  death  by  wild 
beasts  the  penalty  for  reading  his  life  of  that  emperor.  After 
the  invention  of  printing,  editions  of  Suetonius  multiplied 
rapidly. 

EXTKACTS   FROM   SUETONIUS^ 
SUPERSTITION  OF  AUGUSTUS. 

"  Some  signs  and  omens  he  regarded  as  infallible.  If  in  the  morn- 
ing bis  shoe  was  put  on  wrong,  the  left  instead  of  the  right,  that 
boded  some  disaster.  If  when  he  commenced  a  long  journey,  by  sea 
or  land,  there  happened  to  fall  a  mizzling  rain,  he  held  it  to  be  a 
good  sign  of  a  speedy  and  happy  return.  He  was  much  affected  like- 
Avise  with  anything  out  of  the  common  course  of  nature.  A  palm- 
tree  which  chanced  to  grow  up  between  some  stones  in  the  court  of 
his  house,  he  transplanted  into  a  court  Avhere  the  images  of  the  house- 
hold gods  were  placed,  and  took  all  possible  care  to  make  it  thrive. 
He  also  observed  certain,  days ;  as  never  to  go  from  home  the  day 
after  the  market-days,  nor  to  begin  any  serious  business  upon  the 
nones." 


CIIAKACTEE   OF   CALIGULA. 

"  Caligula  evinced  the  savage  barbarity  of  his  temper  by  the  fol- 
lowing indications.  When  flesh  was  only  to  be  had  at  a  high  prico 
for  feeding  his  wild  beasts,  he  ordered  that  criminals  should  bo 
given  them  to  be  devoured.  After  disfiguring  many  persons  of  hon- 
orable rank,  by  branding  them  in  the  face  with  hot  irons,  he  con' 
demned  them  to  the  mines,  to  work  in  repairing  the  highways,  or 
to  fight  with  wild  beasts ;  or,  tying  them  by  the  neck  and  heels, 
would  shut  them  up  in  cages,  or  saw  them  asunder. 

Nor  were  these  severities  inflicted  merely  for  crimes  of  great  enor- 
mity, but  for  making  remarks  on  his  public  games,  or  for  not  having 
sworn  by  the  Genius  of  the  emperor.  He  compelled  parents  to  bo 
present  at  the  execution  of  their  sous ;  and  to  one  who  excused  him- 


EXTRACTS  FKOM  SUETONIUS.  417 

self  on  account  of  indisposition,  he  sent  his  own  litter.  He  burned 
alive  the  writer  of  a  farce,  for  some  witty  verse  which  had  a  double 
meaning.  A  Koman  knight,  who  had  been  exposed  to  the  wild 
beasts,  crying  out  that  he  was  innocent,  Caligula  called  him  back, 
and  having  had  his  tongue  cut  out,  remanded  him  to  the  arena. 

Even  in  the  midst  of  his  diversions,  while  gaming  or  feasting, 
this  savage  ferocity  never  forsook  him.  Persons  were  often  put  to 
the  torture  in  his  presence,  while  he  was  dining  or  carousing.  At 
Puteoli,  at  the  dedication  of  the  bridge,  he  invited  a  number  of  peo- 
ple to  come  to  him  from  the  shore,  and  then  suddenly  threw  them 
headlong  into  the  sea ;  thrusting  down  with  poles  and  oars  those 
who,  to  save  themselves,  had»got  hold  of  the  rudders  of  the  ships. 
As  often  as  he  met  with  handsome  men,  who  had  fine  heads  of  hair, 
ho  would  order  the  back  of  their  heads  to  be  shaved,  to  make  them 
look  ridiculous.  At  a  sumptuous  entertainment,  he  fell  suddenly 
into  a  violent  fit  of  laughter,  and  upon  the  consuls',  who  reclined 
next  to  him,  respectfully  asking  him  the  occasion, '  Nothing,'  replied 
he, '  but  that  upon  a  single  nod  of  mine,  you  might  both  have  your 
throats  cut.' 

In  profuse  expenditure  he  surpassed  all  the  prodigals  that  ever 
lived ;  inventing  a  new  kind  of  bath,  washing  in  precious  unguents, 
both  warm  and  cold,  drinking  pearls  of  immense  value  dissolved  in 
vinegar,  and  serving  up  for  his  guests  loaves  and  other  victuals  mod- 
elled in  gold.  He  built  two  ships  with  ten  banks  of  oars,  the  sterns 
of  which  blazed  with  jewels  while  the  sails  were  of  various  colors. 
They  were  fitted  up  with  baths,  galleries,  and  saloons,  and  supplied 
with  a  great  variety  of  vines  and  fruit-trees.  In  these  he  would  sail 
in  the  daytime  along  the  coast  of  Campania,  feasting  amidst  dancing 
and  concerts  of  music." 


STUPIDITY    OF   CLAUDIUS. 

"Among  other  things,  people  wondered  at  the  indifference  and 
absent-mindedness  of  Claudius.  Placing  himself  at  table  a  little 
after  Messalina's  death,  he  inquired,  'Why  does  not  the  empress 
come  f  Many  of  those  he  had  condemned  to  death,  he  ordered  the 
day  after  to  be  invited  to  his  table,  and  to  game  with  him,  and  sent 
to  reprimand  them  as  sluggish  fellows  for  not  making  greater  haste. 
The  following  expression  he  had  in  his  mouth  at  all  hours,  '  What ! 
do  you  take  me  for  a  fool  ?' 

A  man  engaged  in. litigation  before  his  tribunal  drew  Claudius 
aside  and  told  him, '  I  dreamt  I  saw  you  murdered  ;'  and  shortly  af- 
terward, when  the  defendant  came  to  deliver  his  plea  to  the  emperor, 
the  plaintiff,  pretending  to  have  discovered  the  murderer,  pointed  to 
him  as  the  man  he  had  seen  in  his  dream :  whereupon,  as  if  he  had 
been  taken  in  the  act,  he  was  hurried  away  to  execution." — DR. 
THOMSON. 


418  ROMAN    L1TEKATUKE. 

Pliny  the  Younger  (62-113  A.D.),  nephew  and  adopted  son 
of  the  naturalist,  learned  his  early  lessons  from  Quintilian  and 
other  celebrated  rhetoricians.  After  figuring  for  a  time  as  a 
successful  advocate,  he  was  elevated  to  the  consulship,  and  in 
Trajan's  reign,  having  served  his  second  term  as  consul,  re- 
ceived the  appointment  of  governor  of  Bithynia. 

Pliny  took  a  prominent  stand  as  the  champion  of  the 
wronged,  and  delighted  in  compelling  dishonest  governors  to 
disgorge  their  stolen  spoils.  The*eloquent  speeches  identified 
with  his  name  have  perished,  with  the  exception  of  a  single 
specimen,  a  panegyric  on  Trajan.  It  is  as  a  letter-writer  that 
Pliny  is  entitled  to  a  place  among  the  worthies  of  Latin  liter- 
ature. His  epistles  to  his  friends  and  the  emperor  (in  ten 
books)  are  among  the  most  pleasing  relics  of  antiquity,  af- 
fording, as  they  do,  many  instructive  glimpses  of  contemporary 
society.  They  are  written  with  life  and  polish,  and  show  their 
author  to  have  been  "  the  perfect  type  of  a  pagan  gentleman." 

While  governor  of  Bithynia,  Pliny  corresponded  frequently 
with  Trajan  on  official  business.  We  give  below  one  of  his 
letters  in  relation  to  the  Christians,  with  Trajan's  reply. 

PLINY'S  LETTER  ON  THE  CHRISTIANS. 

"  I  had  never  attended  at  the  trial  of  a  Christian ;  hence  I  knew 
not  what  were  the  usual  questions  asked  them,  or  what  the  punish- 
ments inflicted.  I  doubted,  also,  whether  to  make  a  distinction  of 
age.s,  or  to  treat  young  and  old  alike ;  whether  to  allow  time  for  re- 
cantation, or  to  refuse  all  pardon  whatever  to  one  Avho  had  been  a 
Christian ;  whether,  finally,  to  make  the  name  penal,  though  no 
crime  should  be  proved,  or  to  reserve  the  penalty  for  the  combina- 
tion of  both.  Meanwhile,  when  any  were  reported  to  me  as  Chris- 
tians, I  followed  this  plan.  I  asked  them  whether  they  were  Chris- 
tians. If  they  said  yes,  I  repeated  the  question  twice,  adding  threats 
of  punishment ;  if  they  persisted,  I  ordered  punishment  to  be  inflict- 
ed. For  I  felt  sure  that  whatever  it  was  they  confessed,  their  in- 
flexible obstinacy  well  deserved  to  be  chastised.  There  were  even 
some  Roman  citizens  who  showed  this  strange  persistence;  those  I 
determined  to  send  to  Rome. 

As  often  happens  in  cases  of  interference,  charges  were  now  lodged 


EXTKACT    FROM    PLINY.  419 

more  generally  than  before,  and  several  forms  of  guilt  came  before 
me.  An  anonymous  letter  was  sent,  containing  the  names  of  many 
persons,  who,  however,  denied  that  they  were  or  had  been  Chris- 
tians. As  they  invoked  the  gods  and  worshipped  with  wine  and 
frankincense  before  your  image,  at  the  same  time  cursing  Christ,  I 
released  them  the  more  readily,  as  those  who  are  really  Christians 
cannot  be  got  to  do  any  of  these  things.  Others,  who  were  named 
to  me,  admitted  that  they  were  Christians,  but  immediately  after- 
ward denied  it ;  some  said  they  had  been  so  three  years  ago,  others 
at  still  more  distant  dates,  one  or  two  as  long  ago  as  twenty  years. 
All  these  worshipped  yonr  image  and  those  of  the  gods,  and  abjured 
Christ.  But  they  declared  that  all  their  guilt  or  error  had  amount- 
ed to  was  this :  they  met  on  certain  mornings  before  daybreak,  and 
snng  one  after  another  a  hymn  to  Christ  as  God,  at  the  same  time 
binding  themselves  by  an  oath  not  to  commit  any  crime,  but  to  ab- 
stain from  theft,  robbery,  adultery,  perjury,  or  repudiation  of  trust. 
After  this  was  done,  the  meeting  broke  up  ;  they,  however,  came  to- 
gether again  to  eat  their  meal  in  common,  being  quite  guiltless  of 
any  improper  conduct.  But  since  my  edict  forbidding  (as  yon  or- 
dered) all  secret  societies,  they  had  given  this  practice  up. 

However,  I  thought  it  necessary  to  apply  the  torture  to  some 
young  women  who  were  called  ministrce  (deaconesses),  in  order,  if 
possible,  to  find  out  the  truth.  But  I  could  elicit  nothing  from  them 
except  evidence  of  some  debased  and  immoderate  superstition  ;  so  I 
deferred  the  trial,  and  determined  to  ask  your  advice.  For  the  mat- 
ter seemed  important,  especially  since  the  number  of  those  who  run 
into  danger  increases  daily.  All  ages,  all  ranks,  and  both  sexes,  are 
among  the  accused,  and  the  taint  of  the  superstition  is  not  confined  to 
the  towns ;  it  has  actually  made  its  way  into  the  villages.  But  I  be- 
lieve it  possible  to  check  and  repress  it.  At  all  events,  it  is  certain 
that  temples  which  were  lately  almost  empty  are  now  well  attended, 
and  sacred  festivals  long  disused  are  being  revived.  Victims  too  are 
flowing  in,  whereas  a  few  years  ago  such  things  could  hardly  find  a 
purchaser.  From  this  I  infer  that  vast  numbers  might  be  reformed, 
if  an  opportunity  of  recantation  were  allowed  them."  t 

TRAJAN'S  REPLY. 

"  I  entirely  approve  of  yonr  conduct  with  regard  to  those  Chris- 
tians of  whom  you  had  received  information.  We  can  never  lay 
down  a  universal  rnle,  as  if  circumstances  were  always  the  same. 
They  are  not  to  be  searched  for;  but  if  they  are  reported  and  con- 
victed, they  must  be  punished.  But  if  any  denies  his  Christianity 
and  proves  his  words  by  sacrificing  to  our  divinity,  even  if  his  for- 
mer conduct  may  have  laid  him  under  suspicion,  he  must  be  allowed 
the  benefit  of  his  recantation.  No  weight  whatever  should  be  at- 
tached to  anonymous  communications;  they  are  no  Roman  way  of 
dealing,  and  are  altogether  reprehensible."— CRUTTWELL. 

S 


420  RO3IAN   LITERATURE. 

During  the  period  under  consideration,  FLORUS  abridged 
Livy's  "  Annals ;"  AULUS  GELLIUS  (125-175  A.D.)  crowded 
into  his  "Attic  Nights"  (a  work  in  twenty  books,  prepared  by 
night  at  Athens)  a  vast  store  of  historical  anecdotes  and  ex- 
tracts from  works  now  lost;  GAIUS,  the  jurist,  composed  his 
"  Institutes ;"  and  FRONTO  wrote  his  epistles. 

Apuleius. — Last  of  the  writers  of  this  age,  but  by  no  means 
least  when  we  consider  the  influence  of  his  tales  upon  mod- 
ern fiction,  is  Apuleius,  author  of  the  romance  of  "  the  Golden 
Ass."  Lucius,  the  hero,  an  enthusiast  in  the  study  of  magic, 
having  seen  the  sorceress  Pam'phile  transform  herself  into 
an  owl  by  rubbing  an  ointment  on  her  person,  endeavors, 
with  the  help  of  her  maid,  to  imitate  her  example.  But 
the  girl  selects  the  wrong  box  of  ointment  from  her  mis- 
tress's cabinet;  and  Lucius,  on  applying  it,  is  changed  into 
a  donkey. 

Hardly,  however,  had  the  metamorphosis  been  effected  when 
a  band  of  robbers  made  a  descent  upon  the  house,  loaded 
a  portion  of  their  plunder  on  the  ass's  back,  and  made  good 
their  escape,  driving  Lucius  before  them.  In  search  of  rose- 
leaves,  which  the  maid  told  him  would  remove  the  spell,  the 
hero  meets  with  a  series  of  marvellous  adventures.  Among 
the  episodes  introduced  is  the  oft-repeated  tale  of  Cupid  and 
Psy'cfre.  In  the  Decameron,  Don  Quixote,  and  Gil  Bias,  some 
of  these  old  Roman  stories  are  told  over  again. 

The  style  of  Apuleius  is  unnatural ;  his  Latin  is  bad.  Be- 
sides "the  Golden  Ass,"  he  wrote  a  discourse  on  Magic,  on 
"  the  God  of  Socrates,"  and  the  "  Florida,"  a  collection  of 
paragraphs  from  his  own  orations. 

LATER    LATIN    AUTHORS. 

After  its  temporary  revival  under  Trajan's  kindly  rule, 
Latin  literature  gradually  sunk  into  a  hopeless  decline.  In 
the  long  array  of  names  that  represent  the  last  three  cen- 


THE    CHRISTIAN    FATHERS.  421 

turies  of  the  Roman  Empire,  we  find  none  more  worthy 
of  respect  than  those  of  the  Latin  fathers.  Greatest  of 
these  was 

St.  Augustine  (354-430  A.D.),  of  whom  Tulloch  said  "  no 
single  name  has  ever  made  such  an  impression  upon  Chris- 
tian thought." 

Impressed  with  the  truth  of  the  Gospel  by  the  eloquence 
of  Ambrose  at  Milan,  where  he  had  gone  to  teach  rhetoric, 
Augustine  at  length  received  baptism,  to  the  delight  of  his 
saintly  mother  Mon'ica,  who  had  long  prayed  for  his  conver- 
sion. When  raised  to  the  bishopric  of  Hippo  in  Africa,  Au- 
gustine zealously  engaged  in  a  controversy  with  Pela'gius  and 
his  followers,  who  entertained  heterodox  views  in  relation  to 
grace  and  original  sin.  The  bishop  put  forth. fifteen  treatises 
in  refutation  of  the  Pelagian  heresies.  His  greatest  works 
were  "the  City  of  God,"  a  vindication  of  Christianity,  "  Con- 
fessions," and  a  treatise  on  the  Trinity. 

Ambrose,  bishop  of  Milan,  who  lived  in  the  last  half  of  the 
fourth  century,  was  the  author  of  numerous  epistles  and 
hymns,  the  Te  Deum  being  one  of  his  compositions.  His 
"Offices"  defines  the  duties  of  Christian  pastors. 

St.  Jerome  (Hieronymus)  (340-420),  the  great  apostle  of 
monasticism,  from  a  convent  at  Bethlehem  promulgated  his 
Latin  version  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  called  the 
Vulgate  (common}  because  designed  for  the  use  of  the  com- 
mon people,  who  understood  no  language  but  Latin.  Jerome's 
Bible,  adopted  as  a  standard  version,  was  the  first  book  ever 
put  to  press  (1455). 

St.  Gregory,  bishop  of  Constantinople,  the  last  of  the  four 
great  Latin  fathers  and  the  most  poetical  of  early  Christian 
writers,  has  left  us  a  book  of  epistles,  orations,  and  religious 
poems.  He  pressed  into  the  service  of  Christianity  the  arts 
of  Greek  rhetoric,  and  assailed  Julian  the  Apostate  in  two 
speeches  that  recall  the  invective  of  the  Attic  orators. 


422  ROMAN    LITERATURE. 

Tertullian  (150-230),  "the  Master,"  one  of  the  earlier 
Christian  authors,  is  worthy  of  mention  not  only  for  his  nu- 
merous practical  treatises  on  Penance,  Idolatry,  Theatrical 
Exhibitions,  etc.,  but  also  for  his  polemical  works  against 
unbelievers,  and  the  "Apologeticus"  in  defence  of  Christian- 
ity. In  after-life  Tertullian  joined  a  heretical  sect. 

Cyprian,  bishop  of  Carthage,  the  pupil  of  Tertullian,  defend- 
ed his  religion  with  an  eloquent  pen,  and  finally  laid  down  his 
life  for  his  faith  (258). 

Lactantius,  "  the  Christian  Cicero,"  was  the  most  learned 
man  of  Constantine's  age  (306-337).  His  earliest  effort,  an 
hexameter  poem,  "  the  Banquet,"  gained  him  such  reputation 
that  the  emperor  Diocletian  appointed  him  to  give  instruction 
in  rhetoric  at  Nicomedia.  The  "  Banquet "  is  lost ;  but  seve- 
ral of  the  author's  prose  works  remain,  the  greatest  being  his 
"Divine  Institutions."  In  his  treatise  "On  the  Death  of  the 
Persecutors,"  Lactantius  endeavors  to  prove  the  avenging 
hand  of  God  in  the  violent  ends  of  those  emperors  who  had 
oppressed  his  people. 

Boethius. — Finally,  we  must  notice  the  famous  moral  trea- 
tise "On  the  Consolation  of  Philosophy,"  by  Boethius,  a  Ro- 
man noble  who  outlived  the  fall  of  his  country  (476).  A 
model  of  integrity  and  justice,  Boethius  was  loaded  with 
honors  by  Theod'oric,  the  Ostrogothic  king  of  Italy ;  but 
at  last,  falsely-  accused  by  his  enemies  of  witchcraft  and 
treason,  he  was  executed  by  his  suspicious  master  (525). 

The  above-mentioned  work  was  much  read  during  the 
Middle  Ages.  Alfred  the  Great  rendered  it  into  Anglo-Saxon  ; 
Chaucer,  into  English;  and  later  writers  have  reproduced  its 
sentiments. 

SPECIMENS   OF   LATER   POETRY. 

As  a  favorable  specimen  of  later  Latin  poetry,  we  quote  a 
few  verses  from  an  eclogue  on  hunting  by  NEMESIAN  (280), 


NEMESIAN. — CLAUDIAN.  423 

a  favorite  poet  in  the  time  of  Charlemagne,  extensively  read 

in  the  schools  : — 

"  The  toil  that  should  round  lawn  aud  forest  spread, 
Hemming  the  nimble  prey  iu  moveless  dread, 
Must  with  inwoven  plumes  its  threads  divide, 
From  every  various  wing  diversely  dyed. 
This  the  keen  wolf  and  flying  stag  shall  scare, 
The  fox,  the  monstrous  boar,  and  shaggy  bear; 
As  if  with  lightning  flash,  aghast,  confound, 
Aud  still  forbid  to  pass  the  checkered  bound. 
This  then,  with  various  paint  anointing,  smear; 
Let  florid  hues  Avith  snowy  white  appear, 
And  lengthen  oil  the  threads  the  alternate  fear. 
A  thousand  terrors  from  his  painted  wings, 
To  aid  thy  enterprise,  the  vulture  brings. 
The  swan,  the  goose,  the  crane,  aud  each  that  laves 
His  webbed  feet  amid  the  stagnant  waves. 
Then  rarer  plumes  shall  brighter  tints  bestow, 
Where  scarlet  deepens  in  its  native  glow : 
Where  flights  of  birds  on  blooming  pinions  rise, 
Aud  plumage  reddens  with  its  saffron  dyes, 
Or  streaks  in  green  its  pied  varieties. 

Thy  gear  complete,  when  autumn's  end  is  near, 
Aud  showery  winter  overhangs  the  year, 
Begin  :  your  hounds  unkennel  in  the  mead; 
Begin  :  o'er  champaign  fields  impel  the  steed. 
Hunt,  while  the  daybreak  sheds  its  glimmering  light, 
And  the  fresh  dews  retain  the  sceifteo  tracks  of  night.'' 

ELTON. 

A  different  style  was  that  of  CLAUDIAN,  the  court  poet  in 
the  reign  of  Theodosius  the  Great  (379-395)-  Tawdry  and 
artificial  in  general,  it  was  displayed  to  the  best  advantage  in 
his  amatory  pieces  and  marriage  hymns ;  as  in  this  descrip- 
tion of 

THE  SLEEPING  VENUS. 

"  It  chanced,  iu  quest  of  slumbers  cool,  the  Queen 
Of  Love  in  vine-wrought  grot  retired  unseen  ; 
Her  star-bright  limbs  on  tufted  grass  were  spread, 
A  heap  of  flowers  the  pillow  for  her  head.  , 

The  Idaliau  maids  lie  round;  the  Graces  twine 
Their  arms,  and  screened  by  spreading  oak  recline. 
The  winged  boys,  where  shade  invites,  repose 
On  every  side ;  unstrung  their  loosened  bows ; 


424  UoiiAX    LITERATURE. 

While,  on  a  neighboring  branch  suspended  high, 
With  gentle  flames  their  breathing  quivers  sigh. 
Some  wakeful  sport,  or  through  the  thickets  rove; 
Climb  for  the  nest,  or  blithely  strip  the  grove 
Of  dewy  apples  for  the  Queen  of  Love ; 
Along  the  bough's  curved  windings  creeping  cling, 
Or  hang  from  topmost  elm  with  light-poised  wiug." 

AUSONIUS  of  Bordeaux,  an  affected  verse -maker  of  the 
fourth  century,  wrote  much  that  is  second-rate,  in  the  way 
of  epigrams  and  idyls,  too  often  of  a  licentious  tone  ;  but 
there  is  some  merit  in  the  following  reflections  on 

ROSES. 

"  'TVas  spring ;  the  morn  returned  in  saffron  veil, 
And  breathed  a  bracing  coolness  in  the  gale. 
Through  the  broad  walks  I  trod  the  garden  bowers, 
And  roamed,  refreshed  against  the  noontide  hours. 
I  saw  the  hoary  dew's  congealing  drops 
Bend  the  tall  grass  and  vegetable  tops ; 
The  sprinkled  pearls  on  every  rose-bush  lay, 
Anon  to  melt  before  the  beams  of  day. 
I  saw  a  moment's  interval  divide 
The  rose  that  blossomed  from  the  rose  that  died. 
This  with  its  cap  of  tufted  moss  looked  green  ; 
That,  tipped  with  reddening  purple,  peeped  between. 
Oue  reared  its  obelisk  with  opening  swell, 
The  bud  unsheathed  its  crimson  pinnacle; 
Another,  gathering  every  purfled  fold, 
Its  foliage  multiplied,  its  blooms  unrolled. 
While  this,  that  ere  the  passing  moment  flew, 
Flamed  forth  one  blaze  of  scarlet  on  the  view, 
Now  shook  from  withering  stalk  the  waste  perfume, 
Its  verdure  stript,  and  pale  its  faded  bloom. 

I  marvelled  at  the  spoiling  flight  of  time, 
That  roses  thus  grew  old  in  earliest  prime. 
E'en  while  I  speak,  the  crimson  leaves  drop  round, 
And  ar  red  brightness  veils  the  blushing  ground. 
These  forms,  these  births,  these  changes,  bloom,  decay, 
Appear  and  vanish  in  the  self-same  day. 
One  day  the  rose's  age ;  and  while  it  blows, 
In  dawn  of  youth,  it  withers  to  its  close. 
O  virgins !  roses  cull  while  yet  ye  may ; 
So  bloom  your  hours,  and  so  shall  haste  away." 

ELTON. 


BRIEF    EXTRACTS.  425 

GEMS  OF  LATIN  THOUGHT.* 
PLAUTUS. 

"Easy  is  sway  over  the  good. — Man  to  bis  fellow-mau is  a  wolf. — 
No  one  left  to  himself  is  sufficiently  wise. — All  things  are  riot  equal- 
ly sweet  to  all. — No  one  is  inquisitive  witbout  being  ill-natured. — A 
woman  wbo  lias  good  principles  bas  dowry  enough. — Courage  iu 
danger  is  half  the  battle. — Good  fortune  finds  good  friends. — Love  is 
very  fruitful  iu  both  honey  and  gall.— Flame  is  very  near  to  smoke." 

TEREXCE. 

"The  strictest  administration  of  law  is  often  the  greatest  wrong. — 
Without  danger  no  great  and  memorable  dee.d  is  done. — Fortune  fa- 
vors tbe  brave.— Many  men,  many  minds. — Nothing  in  excess. — As 
we  can,  when  we  cannot  as  we  would. — Nothing  is  said  now  that  has 
not  been  said  before. —  Obsequiousness  begets  friends,  truthfulness 
hatred." 

VAKRO. 

"  It  is  divine  nature  that  has  given  the  country,  human  art  that 
has  built  cities. — As  a  state  ought  to  worship  the  gods  in  its  public 
capacity,  so  ought  each  family." 

CICERO. 

"Justice  gives  everyone  his  due. — No  one  was  ever  great  without 
divine  inspiration. — The  noblest  spirit  is  the  most  strongly  attracted 
by  the  love  of  glory. — One  man  is  more  useful  in  one  thing,  another 
in  another. — Guilt  lies  in  the  very  hesitation,  even  though  the  act 
itself  has  not  been  reached. — The  chief  recommendation  comes  from 
modesty. — Fear  is  no  lasting  teacher  of  duty. — Any  man  may  err, 
but  no  one  but  a  fool  will  persevere  in  error. — The  memory  of  a  well- 
spent  life  is  everlasting. — Whatever  you  do,  you  should  do  it  with 
your  might. — Glory  follows  virtue  like  its  shadow." 

LUCRETIUS. 

"The  ring  on  the  finger  is  worn  thin  by  constant  use. — It  is  pleas- 
ant, when  winds  roughen  the  sea  with  great  waves,  to  behold  from 
the  shore  another's  arduous  toil. — We  are  all  sprung  from  heavenly 
seeds. — Weigh  well  with  judgment ;  -what  seems  true,  hold  fast ;  gird 
thyself  against  what  is  false. — We  see  that  the  mind  strengthens 
with  the  body,  and  with  the  body  grows  old." 


*  For  these  "  Gems,"  as  well  as  those  under  Greek  literature,  we  have  drawn 
to  some  extent  on  the  collections  of  Ramage.' 


426  ROMAN   LITERATURE. 


CATULLUS. 

"Nothing  is  sillier  than  a  silly  laugh. — What  a  woman  says  to  her 
foud  lover  may  well  be  written  on  the  wind  aud  rapid  stream." 

SALLUST. 

"Every  one  is  the  architect  of  his  own  fortune. — The  endowments 
of  the  mind  form  the  only  illustrious  and  lastiug  possession. — Fear 
closes  the  ears  of  the  mind. — The  mind  is  the  leader  and  director  of 
the  life  of  mortals. — In  grief  aud  miseries,  death  is  a  respite  from 
sorrows,  not  a  punishment. — To  have  the  same  likes  and  dislikes, 
this  in  a  word  is  firm  friendship." 

VIRGIL. 

"  Endure,  and  preserve  yourselves  for  prosperous  times. — We  are 
not  all  able  to  accomplish  all  things. — Love  conquers  all  things,  aud 
to  love  let  us  yield. — Praise  large  farms,  cultivate  a  small  one. — The 
only  safety  for  the  vanquished  is  to  hope  for  no  safety. — Accursed 
thirst  for  gold,  what  dost  thou  not  drive  mortal  breasts  to  do  ? — No- 
where is  faith  safe. — Whatever  shall  happen,  every  kind  of  fortune 
is  to  be  overcome  by  patient  endurance. — Hug  the  shore ;  let  others 
launch  out  into  the  deep." 

HORACE. 

"There  is  a  mean  iu  all  things. — It  is  right  for  one  craving  for- 
giveness for  his  sins  to  grant  it  to  others  in  turn. — There  is  nothing 
too  high  for  mortals ;  iu  our  folly  we  storm  heaven  itself. — Life  has 
given  nothing  to  mortals  without  great  toil. — Avoid  inquiring  what 
is  about  to  be  to-morrow. — To  die  for  one's  native  land  is  sweet  and 
glorious. — Punishment  presses  on  crime  as  a  companion. — He  has 
carried  every  point  who  has  mingled  the  useful  with  the  agreeable." 

LIVY. 

"Wounds  cannot  be  cured  unless  they  are  touched  and  handled. — 
Necessity  is  the  ultimate  and  strongest  weapon. — In  nothing  do 
events  less  answer  to  men's  expectations  than  in  war. — It  is  safer 
that  a  wicked  man  should  not  be  accused  at  all  than  that  he  should 
be  acquitted. — In  difficult  and  almost  hopeless  cases  the  boldest 
counsels  are  the  safest." 

TIBULLUS. 

"There  is  a  God  who  forbids  that  crimes  should  be  concealed. — 
Happy  thou  who  shalt  learn  by  another's  suffering  how  to  avoid 
thine  own. — While  thy  early  summer-time  is  blooming,  use  it;  it 
slips  away  with  no  slow  foot." 


GEMS    OF   LATIN   THOUGHT.  427 


PKOPEETIUS. 

"  Neither  is  beauty  a  thing  eternal,  nor  is  fortune  lasting  to  any ; 
later  or  sooner  death  awaits  everybody. — In  maddening  love  nobody 
sees. — Let  no  one  be  willing  to  injure  the  absent. — Great  love  crosses 
even  the  shores  of  death." 

OVID. 

"A  wounded  member  that  cannot  be  healed  must  be  cut  off  with 
the  knife,  lest  the  healthy  part  be  affected. — It  is  the  coward's  part 
to  wish  for  death. — Even  the  uuconquered  man  grief  conquers. — A 
mind  conscious  of  rectitude  laughs  at  the  lies  of  minor. — The  reefed 
sail  escapes  the  storms  of  winter." 

NEPOS. 

"No  evil  is  great  which  is  the  last. — Peace  is  obtained  by  war. — 
The  mother  of  a  coward  is  not  wont  to  weep." 

PH^EDRUS. 

"  The  poor  man,  striving  to  imitate  the  powerful,  conies  to  grief. — 
The  fair  speeches  of  a  bad  man  are  full  of  snares. — Rashness  is  an 
advantage  to  few,  a  source  of  evil  to  many. — The  learned  man  al- 
vrays  has  his  riches  within  himself." 

PLINY. 

The  Elder. — "Every  one  is  pleased  with  his  own,  and  wherever  wo 
go  the  same  story  is  found. — No  one  of  mortals  is  wise  at  all  hours. — 
Our  ancestors  used  to  say  that  the  master's  eye  is  the  best  fertilizer 
for  the  field." 

The  Younger. — "  Nothing  seems  as  good,  when  we  have  gained  it, 
as  it  did  when  we  were  wishing  for  it. — I  deem  him  the  best  and 
most  commendable  who  pardons  others  as  if  he  himself  daily  went 
astray,  yet  abstains  from  faults  as  if  he  pardoned  no  one." 

LUCAN. 

"  Great  fear  is  concealed  by  daring. — The  prosperous  man  knows 
not  whether  he  is  truly  loved. — An  offence  in  which  many  are  en- 
gaged, goes  unpunished." 

PETEONIUS   ARBITER. 

"  A  physician  is  nothing  more  than  a  satisfaction  to  the  mind. — 
Fear  first  made  gods  in  the  Avorld. — There  is  no  one  of  us  that  sin- 
neth  not ;  we  are  men,  not  gods. — Poverty  is  the  sister  of  a  sound 
mind." 


428 


ROMAN   LITERATURE. 


TACITUS. 

"  Traitors  are  odious  even  to  those  whom  they  benefit. — When  the 
state  is  most  corrupt,  the  laws  are  most  numerous. — There  will  be 
vices  as  long  as  there  are  men. — Everything  unknown  is  magnified. 
— It  is  a  peculiarity  of  the  human  miud  to  hate  one  whom  you  have 
injured." 

JUVENAL. 

"  Rare  is  the  combination  of  beauty  and  modesty. — Nature  never 
says  one  thing,  and  wisdom  another. — Himself  being  the  judge,  no 
guilty  man  is  acquitted. — The  anger  of  the  gods,  however  great  it 
may  be,  yet  certainly  is  slow.  —  Less  frequent  enjoyment  of  them 
makes  pleasures  keener." 


MINOR    POETS    AND    PROSE    WRITERS. 


CUEMU'TIUS  CORDUS,  the  historian: 
"Annals."  Cordus  offended  Tibe- 
rius by  styling  Cassius  "  the  last  of 
the  Romans,"  and  starved  himself 
to  death  to  escape  the  tyrant. 

AUFID'IUS  BASSUS:  histories  of  the 
civil  and  German  wars. 

ASCO'NIUS  PEDIA'NUS  :  a  grammarian 
of  Patavium ;  commentaries  on  Cic- 
ero's orations. 

PETRO'NIUS  ARBITER,  the  companion 
and  victim  of  Nero  :  author  of  "  Sa- 
tyricon,"  a  witty  romance,  of  which 
a  few  fragments  remain. 

JULIUS  FRONTI'NUS  :  a  self-made  man 
of  the  Flavian  era ;  works  on  the 
Roman  aqueducts,  military  tactics, 
the  measurement  of  land,  etc. 

LICINIA'NUS  (age  of  the  Antonines) : 
a  history  of  republican  Rome ;  style 
affected. 

MARCUS  AURELIUS,  the  emperor  (1G1- 
180):  a  devoted  Stoic;  his  "Medi- 
tations "  (in  Greek)  full  of  noble  sen- 
timents. 

PAPINIAN  AND  ULPIAN,  the  jurists 
(about  200) :  writers  on  law. 


SPARTIA'NUS  (300):  "Biographies  of 
the  Roman  Emperors." 


DONA'TUS  (4th  century)  :  the 
preceptor  of  St.  Jerome  ;  his  "  Art  of 
Grammar"  once  a  popular  text-book. 

PRUDENTIUS  CI-F/MEXS  (4th  century)  : 
a  Christian  poet;  hymns,  etc. 

AVIE'NUS  (4th  century)  :  poems  on  as- 
tronomical and  geographical  subjects. 

AMMIA'NUS  MARCELLI'NUS  (died  about 
400)  :  the  last  Latin  historian  ;  his 
"  Thirty-one  Books  of  Events,"  a  con- 
tinuation of  the  history  of  Tacitus 
through  the  reign  of  Valens  (378). 

SY.MMACHUS  (400)  :  a  high-minded  op- 
ponent of  Christianity;  defeated  by 
Ambrose  in  an  attempt  to  restore  the 
altar  of  Victory  ;  orations,  epistles. 

RUTILIUS  (5th  century)  :  poetical  diary 
of  a  journey  from  Rome  to  Gaul; 
style  terse  and  elegant. 

PRISCIAN  (6th  century)  :  the  greatest 
of  classical  grammarians;  the  most 
complete  Latiu  Grammar  of  antiqui- 
ty. 


INDEX. 


Academic  School  of  Philosophy,  241. 
Accius,  328. 
AcluBus,  261. 
Achilles  Tatius,  295. 
Acusilaus,  183. 

,  302. 
t'iil,  the,  362. 

,  257,  260. 
yEschylus,  193,  194 
Jbop,  181. 
Agathon,  261. 
Agias,  the  Troezenian,  156. 
Albrnovanus,  382. 
Alcieus,  164. 
Alcman,  178. 

Alphabetic  Writing,  19,  20. 
Alphabets,  Table  of  Ancient,  87. 
Ambrose,  421. 
Amrnonius,  293. 
Amos,  97. 
Amphion,  138. 
Anacreon,  172. 
Anaxagoras,  234. 
Anaximander,  183. 
Anaximenes,  183. 
Anthology,  the,  297. 
Antimachus,  192. 
Antisthenes,  25 1. 
Antonius,  327. 
Anyte,  280. 
Apocrypha,  the,  99. 
Apollodorus,  280. 
Apollonius  Rhodius,  275. 
Appian.  302. 

Apuleius,  420.  » 

Arabic  literature,  114. 
Aratus,  280. 
Archilochus,  161. 
Archimedes,  276. 
Arctinus  of  Miletus,  156. 
Aristarchus,  277. 

Aristophanes,  213 ;  of  Byzantium,  277. 
Aristotle,  247. 
Arrian,  302. 
Aryans,  the,  13. 

Assyrio-Babylonian  literature,.106-114. 
Athanasius,  294. 
Augustine,  St.,  421. 


Augustus,  329,  334,  338,  354,  357,  373, 

380,  382. 

Aurelius,  Marcus,  428. 
Ausonius,  424. 
Avatars,  39. 
Avesta,  60, 62. 
Avienus,  428. 

Bacchylides,  178. 
Bassus  Aufidius,  428. 
Berosus.  279. 
Bias  of  Priene,  184. 
Bion,  269. 
Boethius,  422. 
Book  of  the  Dead,  122. 
Buddhist  literature,  58. 

Cadmus  of  Miletus,  179,  183. 
Caecilius,  316. 
Caesar,  Julius,  339. 
Callimachus,  274. 
Callinus,  159. 
Callistratus,  261. 
Calpurnius  Piso,  328. 
Calvus,  Liciuius,  387. 
Carbo,  328. 

Carthaginian  literature,  116. 
Cato  the  Censor,  324. 
Catullus,  352. 
Catulus,  328. 

Celsus,  the  philosopher,  293 ;  the  phy- 
sician, 390. 

Champollion,  119, 120. 
Charon  of  Lampsacus,  184. 
Chilo  of  Sparta,  184. 
Chinese,  language,  67 ;  literature,  67-83. 
Chrysostom,  St.,  294. 
Cicero,  330. 
Cincius,  328. 
Cinna,  387. 
Claudian,  423. 
Cleanthes.  280. 
Cleobulus  of  Lindus,  184. 
Cleon,  213,  226. 
Columella,  408. 
Comparative  Philology,  33. 
Confucius,  70-73. 
Cordus,  Cremutius,  428. 


430 


INDEX. 


Corinna,  186,  188. 

Cornelius  Severus,  382. 

Cornutus.  392. 

Cotta,  328. 

Crassus,  327. 

Crates,  the  poet.  2G1 ;  the  grammarian, 

277,  329. 
Cratinus,  261. 
Croesus,  180,  181. 
Ctesias,  233. 

Cuneiform  letters,  19,  65,  66,  104. 
Curtius,  Quintus,  408. 
Cyclic  Poets,  152,  156. 
Cynics,  the,  254. 
Cyprian,  422. 
Cyrus  the  Younger,  229. 

Damophyla,  171. 

Daniel,  9*8. 

Darius,  66. 

David,  93,  94. 

Democritus,  237. 

Demosthenes,  256. 

Diodorus  Siculus,  281. 

Diogenes,  the  Cynic,  255 ;  Laertius,  302. 

Dion  Cassius,  302. 

Dionysius,   of  Syracuse,  214,  242;    of 

Halicarnassus,  281. 
Donatus,  JElius,  428. 
Drama,  Hindoo,  54;  Greek,  192,  263; 

Roman,  308. 

Ecclesiastes,  96. 

Ecclesiasticus,  99. 

Egyptian  literature,  117-131. 

Eleatic  School  of  Philosophy,  237. 

Empedocles,  236. 

Enna,  121,  129. 

Ennius,  311,  320. 

Epicharmus,  212. 

Epicurus,  238. 

Eratosthenes,  277. 

Erin  n  a,  171. 

Euclid,  276. 

Eugamon  of  Cyrene,  156. 

Eumenes,  24. 

Euphorion,  280. 

Eupolis,  261. 

Euripides,  207. 

Eusebius,  294. 

Ezekiel.  98. 

Ezra,  92,  98. 

Fabius  Pictor,  324,  328. 


Flacctis,  Verrius,  387 ;  Valerius,  408. 
Frontinus,  428. 

Galba,  328. 

Galen,  302. 

Gallus,  ^Elius,  387. 

Glabrio.  Acilius,  328. 

Gorgias,  255. 

Gracchi,  the,  326. 

Gratius,  382. 

Greece,  language  of,  135 ;  literature  of, 

133-302. 
Gregory,  St.,  421. 

Habakkuk,  97. 

Hebrew,  language,  84;  literature,  83- 
104. 

Hecatffius,  the  Milesian,  183. 

Heliodorus,  295.  »• 

Hellanicus,  184. 

Heraclitus,  183. 

Hermes  Trismegistus,  123. 

Herod  ian*,  302. 

Herodotus,  222. 

Hesiod,  152. 

Hiero,  175,  187,  195. 

Hierocles,  295. 

Hieroglyphics,  18;  Chinese,  68;  Cunei- 
form,'105,  106,  108;  Egyptian,  118. 

Himyaritic  inscriptions,  1 14. 

Hipparchus,  the  astronomer.  277. 

Hippocrates,  261. 

Hipponax,  177. 

Hirtius,  341. 

Homer,  139-152. 

Horace,  369. 

Hortensius,  327. 

Hosea,  97. 

lamblichus,  294. 

Ibycus,  178. 

Iliad,  the,  141. 

Ion,  261. 

Ionic  School  of  Philosophy,  234. 

Ireiifeus,  293. 

Isa?us,  256. 

Isaiah,  96. 

Isocrates,  256. 

Italic  School  of  Philosophy,  234 

Jayadeva,  48. 
Jehuda,  101. 
Jeremiah.  97. 
Jerome,  St.,  421. 


INDEX. 


431 


Job,  Book  of,  93. 
Joel,  97. 
Jonah,  97. 

Jones,  Sir  William,  33. 
Josephus,  284. 
Joshua,  Book  of,  92. 
Judges,  Book  of.  92. 
Justin  Martyr,  293. 
Juvenal,  408. 

Kalidasa,  46 ;  lyrics  of,  46 ;  epics  of,  48 ; 

dramas  of,  50, 53. 
King,  the  live,  73. 
Kings,  Books  of  the,  92. 

Labienus,  Titus,  387. 

Lactantius,  422. 

Lfelius,  326. 

Language,  spoken,  17 ;  written,  18 ;  the 
Sanscrit,  31 ;  the  Zend,  60;  the  Chi- 
nese, 67;  the  Hebrew,  84;  the  Chal- 
dean, 105 ;  the  Egyptian,  1 17  ;  the 
Greek,  135 ;  the  Latin,  304.» 

Languages,  origin  and  relationship  of, 
12;  Aryan,  16;  Semitic,  16,  83,  84; 
Turanian,  17. 

Latin,  language,  304;  literature,  303- 
4-28. 

Lavinius,  328. 

Lesches  of  My  tilene,  156. 

Library,  the  Pergamene,  24,  274;  the 
royal  Persian,  67 ;  the  imperial  Chi- 
nese, 83 ;  the  Hebrew,  at  Jerusalem, 
104;  the  royal  Assyrian,  110;  the 
Egyptian,  121 ;  the  Alexandrian,  272. 

Licinianus,  428. 

Literature,  General  View  of  Ancient, 
25;  Hindoo,  31-60;  Persian,  60-67; 
Chinese,  67-83;  Hebrew,  83-104; 
Assyrio- Baby  Ionian,  104-114;  Ara- 
bic, 114;  Phoenician,  115;  Egyptian, 
117-131 ;  Grecian,  133-302  ;  Koman, 
303-428. 

Living  Andronicus,  309. 

Livy,  382. 

Longinus,  294. 

Longus,  295. 

Lucan,  397. 

Lucian,  288. 

Lucilius,  323. 

Lucretius,  348. 

Lyceum,  the,  248. 

Lycophron,  280. 

L\  MUS,  256. 


Mahabharata,  the,  43. 
Manetho,  279. 
Manilius,  382. 
Manu,  Code  of,  38. 
Marcelliuus,  428. 
Martial,  404. 
Maximus,  Valerius,  389. 
Meleager,  280,  297,  300. 
Menander.  264. 
Mencius,  79. 
Messala,  376,  386. 
Micah,  97. 
Mimnermus,  177. 
Moschus,  269,  271. 
Moses,  90. 
Musieus,  138.  302. 
Museum,  the,  272. 
Myrtis,  186. 

Naevius,  310,320. 
Nahum,  97. 
Nemesian,  422. 
Neo-Platonism,  293. 
Nepos,  Cornelius,  347. 
Nicander,  280. 
Nonnus,  302. 
Nossis,  280. 

Odyssey,  the,  147. 
Oppian",  302. 
Origen,  293. 
Ovid,  379. 

Pacuvius.  319. 

Panini,  57. 

Papinian,  428. 

Parallelism,  89. 

Paterculus,  Velleius,  389. 

Pausanias,  292. 

Pedianus,  428. 

Pentaour,  126. 

Pentateuch,  90. 

Periander,  184. 

Peripatetic  School  of  Philosophy,  247. 

Persian  literature,  60-67. 

Persius,  392. 

Petronius  Arbiter,  428. 

Phzedrus,  390. 

Pherecydes  of  Syros,  179. 

Philemon,  265. 

Philo,  104, 293. 

Phocylides,  177. 

Phoenician  literature,  115. 

1'hrynicus,  193. 


432 


INDEX. 


Pilpay,  56. 

Pindar,  185. 

Pittacus,  164, 184. 

Plato,  241. 

Plautus,  312. 

Pliny,  the  Elder,  401 ;  the  Younger,  418. 

Plotinus,  293. 

Plutarch,  284. 

Pollio,  Asinius,  386 ;  Vitruvius,  387. 

Polybius,  277. 

Polycarp,  293. 

Porphyry,  293. 

Priscian,  428. 

Prisse  Papyrus,  127. 

Probus,  408. 

Procopius,  302. 

Propertius,  377. 

Proverbs,  the,  96. 

Prudentius  Clemens,  428. 

Psalms,  the,  93. 

Ptolemy,  the  astronomer,  292. 

Puranas,  35. 

Pyrrho,  238. 

Pythagoras,  234. 

Quintilian,  407. 
Quiiitus  Smyrnaius,  302. 

Rfimayana,  the,  40. 

Rig- Veda,  34. 

Kosetta  Stone,  119. 

Rufus,  Valgius,  387. 

Rutilius,  the  jurist,  328 ;  the  poet,  428. 

Sakoontala,  50. 
Sallust,  343. 
Samuel,  Books  of,  92. 
Sanscrit,  language,  31 ;  literature,  31-60. 
Sappho,  165. 
Scipio,  323, 326. 

Semites,  16 ;  languages  of,  83.  84. 
Seneca,  the  rhetorician,  386 ;  the  moral- 
ist, 394. 

Septuagint,  the,  104,  279. 
Seyffarth,  120. 
Shoo,  the  four,  77. 
Silius  Italicus,  408. 
Simonides,  174 ;  the  Elder,  177. 
Sisenna,  328. 
Skeptics,  the,  238. 
Socrates,  239. 
Solomon,  96, 
Solon,  177, 179, 184. 
Sophocles,  200. 


Spartianus,  428. 

Stasinus  of  Cyprus,  156. 

Statius,  405. 

Stesichorus,  178. 

Stoic  School  of  Philosophy,  253» 

Strabo,  281. 

Suetonius,  415. 

Sulpitia,  406. 

Susarion,  212. 

Symmachus,  428. 

Tacitus,  412. 

Talmud,  the,  100. 

Terence,  315. 

Terpander,  178. 

Tertullian,  422. 

Thales,  180, 184,  231. 

Theocritus,  266. 

Theognis,  177. 

Theophrastus,  252. 

Theopompus,  233. 

Thespis,  192. 

Thucydides,  225. 

Tibullus,  375. 

Timaeus,  279. 

Timocreon,  178. 

Trogus,  Pompeius,  386. 

Tryphiodorus,  302. 

Tubero,  387. 

Turanians,  12;  languages  of,  17. 

Turpilius,  328. 

Tyrtaeus,  160. 

Ulpian,  428. 

Varius,  375. 
Varro,  337. 
Veda,  the,  34. 
Virgil,  355-369. 

Writing,  ideographic,  18 ;  phonetic,  19 : 
among  the  Hindoos,  60 ;  of  the 
Persians,  66  ;  Chinese,  68 ;  Hebrew, 
86;  Cuneiform,  104;  Egyptian,  118; 
Greek,  136, 156, 180, 262.' 

Xanthus,  184. 
Xenophanes,  177,  237. 
Xenophon,  229. 

Zend,  60. 
Zeno,  253. 
Zenodotus,  277. 
Zoroaster,  61-64. 


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